15 Problems That Your Plague Your PC
And How to Solve Them


--by Karen Kenworthy, Contributing Editor, Fred Langa, Senior 
Consulting Editor, John Woram, Consulting Editor, Serdar 
Yegulalp, Technology Editor


** Problem No 5: 
Windows Explorer keeps trying to read my floppy drive. **

Solution:
A Registry setting is the likely culprit. Run RegEdit, open the 
key listed in Problem No. 4 and check the NoDriveTypeAutoRun 
entry's Data column. If the first number is XY, where Y is 
hexadecimal 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, A or B, Explorer will try to read 
all removable drives every time it opens. Change the number so 
that Y is 4, 5, C, D, E or F. Or, set it to 95, 
the Windows default.

If that doesn't work, search the Registry's Data column for a:. 
If you find a reference to a:\filename.ext, some active app may 
periodically try to find that file on the diskette drive. Be on 
the lookout for a drive letter entry in any key whose name 
doesn't contain the initials MRU (for most-recently used). If 
you can locate the diskette with that file on it, uninstall and 
reinstall the app associated with that diskette. Select its 
Custom option (if available) and rewrite all path options to 
point to locations on your hard drive. Check INI files, too, 
for references to a removable drive. If you're still using a 
CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file, make sure there's no PATH 
statement in either one that cites a removable drive letter.


 1998 Windows Magazine, April 1999, Page 112.