Whenever a DVD is inserted into the computer a dialog box appears asking which program I would like to use to open and play the DVD. However, there are quite a few redundant entries in this window referring to programs no longer installed. How can these be removed from the window? Also, is it possible to completely prevent Windows from opening this dialog box when a DVD is inserted? On an unrelated topic, is it possible to convert a Word 2003 document into a PDF file and retain all formatting (such as bold lettering, italics, and hyperlinks)? If so, can you advise what additional software I require and the procedure for the conversion process?

The dialog box which appears when you insert a DVD into the computer is called the AutoPlay. This is Windows attempting to be helpful by offering suggestions for which program should be used to open and play the type of content on the disc (in the case of a DVD, the movie contained on the DVD disc). The AutoPlay function simply scans the inserted media to determine the contents and then offers suggestions based upon what content has been found on the disc. This is why you may also see the AutoPlay window appear when you connect other types of storage into the computer, such as USB thumb drives or external USB hard drives. Generally Windows will conduct a quick scan of the connected drive to determine what it contains so that it can determine the most suitable options to offer in the AutoPlay window. We will first deal with completely disabling AutoPlay, as this is the most straight forward option. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer then right-click on the DVD drive and select “Properties”. In the Properties window which appears, select the “AutoPlay” tab. Here you are able to set a default action for each content type, and we will be setting “Take no action” when a DVD movie is inserted. To set the default action for a DVD movie, in the drop-down box that allows you to select the content type, find and select “DVD movie”. Then, enable “Select an action to perform” and select “Take no action”. Click “Apply” and the setting will be applied and saved. However, this will only apply the “Take no action” action for DVD movies. If you wish to set no action to be taken for all content types, you will need to set “Take no action” for each content type listed in the drop-down box on the AutoPlay tab. Once you are finished click OK to close the window. You should now be able to insert a DVD into the computer and the AutoPlay window will no longer appear.

You also asked about how to remove redundant or orphaned entries from the AutoPlay window. This is a more difficult process, as there is no tool or utility included in Windows to accomplish this task. Instead, you would normally have to directly edit the Windows registry to make the changes. However, this task does not come without risks as editing the registry incorrectly could result in more problems than it attempts to fix, such as the inability of Windows to boot or operate correctly together with potentially other undesirable or unintended side-effects. Fortunately there does appear to be a better way around this issue using a free utility called CleanHandlers (windowsxp.mvps.org/autoplayhandlers.htm). Each of the entries in the AutoPlay menu is called an AutoPlay handler (as they handle the ability to automatically play particular content using a specific program). Occasionally, redundant handlers can be found in the AutoPlay menus due to the incomplete uninstallation of programs or various other factors. CleanHandlers can scan for such orphaned handlers and remove those from the AutoPlay menu. Likewise, it also has the power to allow the user to manually remove particular handlers (useful if the automatic scan does not detect all orphaned handlers, or if you just wish to remove a particular handler for one reason or another).

Once you have downloaded and extracted the free CleanHandlers utility from the previously mentioned website you should first read the README.TXT file which contains important information about the program. In particular, you will notice that when you ask the utility to scan and fix invalid handlers, it creates a backup of the portion of the Windows registry which is modified and saves that backup to the desktop. You should keep this file just in case you wish to undo the changes in the future. After you have read and understood the README.txt file you can launch the utility itself by double-clicking on the “CleanHandlers.exe” program file. In the program window that appears click the “Scan” button. A report should be generated listing all of the orphaned handlers and handlers with missing information. These will be removed during the fix procedure. Assuming that you wish to proceed, close the report and back in the main program window click the “Scan and Fix invalid entries button”. All of the invalid entries listed in the report should now be removed. Additionally, as previously explained, a registry backup (named “autoplayhandlers_backup.reg”) should appear on the desktop. At this point you should copy that backup to a safe location in case it is needed in the future. Should you need to undo the changes and restore the backup, simply double-click on the registry file and it will be imported back into the Windows registry. However, if you use the CleanHandlers utility multiple times then it will create a new registry backup each time. In those instances you will be backing up the registry which may have already changed as a result of previous scans and fixes using CleanHandlers. Therefore, you may wish to rename the registry backup files with a time and date stamp so you don’t get the backups mixed-up and can restore a backup from a particular point in time if needed.

In the event that you wish to remove more handlers related to specific programs then the third-party AutoPlay handlers should be listed in the “AutoPlay Handlers (3rd party)” listbox. To remove a particular handler, select the entry for that handler and click the “Delete” button. Be aware, this will not create a backup so make sure that you only remove handlers which you are absolutely certain about removing, as it will not be recoverable once deleted.

Moving onto your second question, it is entirely possible to convert Word documents into PDF files and retain all formatting. In fact, many of the PDF files which you would view were likely authored using Word and then converted into PDF format. In order to convert documents into PDF format you will require a PDF conversion utility. The best known is Adobe Acrobat which is the same company which created the PDF file format standard. Unfortunately the full Adobe Acrobat software package is rather expensive, but there are several free alternatives available. One free alternative which has been available for quite a long time is PrimoPDF (www.primopdf.com). This utility installs as a virtual printer driver, so whenever you wish to convert a document to PDF you simply “print” the document to the PrimoPDF virtual printer. Instead of printing a physical page (like a normal printer), this virtual printer driver outputs a PDF file. The advantage of having the PDF converter installed using this method is that you can create PDFs from any program which supports printing. As the printed PDF mimics what the document would look like if physically printed on an actual printer, all document formatting will remain intact when printed to PDF.

Note that the PrimoPDF installer uses OpenCandy which is a service that recommends other software during the installation process. The installation of this other software is opt-in and not required for the operation of PrimoPDF itself, so you do not have to agree to this additional software installation (and in most cases you probably do not want to install the recommended software, since you may not have any need for that software). If you do wish to install the recommended software, I would strongly suggest that you do some research on that software before installation, to ensure that it is appropriate for your computer and meets a genuine need. In any case, there is nothing stopping you from writing down the name of the recommended software, installing PrimoPDF without that software, and then downloading the recommended software separately at a later date once you have had a chance to review the software.

Be aware that PrimoPDF does require the installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. If this is not installed on your computer you will be prompted to download this package from Microsoft before being able to install PrimoPDF. This is different to the recommended software, as the .NET framework is actually required for PrimoPDF to work. You can safely install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 if prompted as this is a Microsoft package which is required for PrimoPDF, as opposed to the optional recommended packages that may be presented during the PrimoPDF installation.

In the event that you upgrade to Office 2007 in the future, this new version of Office does have the ability to create PDF files in-built into the Office programs. Go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and search for “Office 2007 PDF”. You should see a download appear called “2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS”. Download and install this add-in into Microsoft Office and within the Office programs you should now see a new option to save as PDF or XPS in the Office menu > Save As. In case you are wondering, XPS is just another type of document format much like PDF. The fact that the menu option says save as “PDF or XPS” does not mean that they are related, but instead you can just save in either of these formats. In case you are interested in more information on the XPS format, look at the following Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_XML_Paper_Specification .