I JUST received a CD-ROM drive for my 486 IBM-compatible PC for my birthday. With the drive came a program that allows me to run CDs from DOS but not from Windows. Can you suggest a program I could use? I have heard that I can run ordinary music CDs with CD-ROM drives, but I am by no means a tech head and don't know how to do this.
I also received a CD that is supposed to have photographs on it. How can I check out this CD? MANNY SANTOS Laguna City CD-ROMs come with their own access programs written into them. Some of these are for DOS, but there are plenty around for Windows. If you have installed your CD-ROM drive as drive D and you want to load a Windows CD-ROM, try the following. Insert the disc into the drive, go to Windows' File Manager, access the D drive and look for a file called either SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE. Double click on this and follow the programs installation instructions. This will usually install all the necessary software to let you use that specific CD-ROM.
To play music CDs, you need to install a sound card in your system. There are plenty on the market, with the best known being SoundBlaster from Creative Labs. These sound card packs usually come with their own CD-ROM drives, but can be had on their own, too. Do not forget to get speakers with them. For information on SoundBlaster, telephone distributor APEX on 8565-3192.
Another good place to look for CD-ROM stuff is a shop called CD Kit on the top floor of the Golden Computer Centre in Shamshuipo. Despite its location, CD-Kit is supposed to sell legitimate (un-pirated) CD-ROMs.
One product you might want to look at is called CD-Essentials and was recently released by Phoenix Technologies in the US. This is a complete CD-ROM controlling program for Windows and is much easier to use than some of the access programs that come with CD-ROMs.
With this program, Windows can automatically sense the insertion of a CD-ROM into the drive.