Q My computer has ceased to Autoplay discs when I put them in the DVD drive. Insertion of a CD produces no indication on the monitor but the information in the CD can be accessed using My Computer and clicking on the DVD-Rom drive’s icon. Is there any way to make it work automatically again?

A If the computer is not auto-playing discs with pictures or music, this problem is easy to solve.

Open My Computer, either from the Desktop or the Start menu, and right-click the icon for the DVD drive. From the menu, select Properties. In the dialogue box that appears, click the Autoplay tab.

Select a type of disc from the dropdown list and then select an action from the list below. Click Apply, then choose another type of disc from the list and repeat the process until the actions are all set to your preferences.

If the computer is failing to auto-play software CDs, then it’s slightly more complicated to fix. The easiest way is to install TweakUI, the Microsoft tool for tweaking bits of Windows (we’ve set up a download link for it here).

Once it’s installed, run it from the ‘Powertoys for Windows XP’ folder of the Start menu. In the program window, double-click My Computer in the left-hand list, then double-click Autoplay. Click Types and make sure ‘Enable Autoplay for CD and DVD drives’ is ticked. Click Drives and make sure a tick appears next to the DVD drive letter. Click OK.