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Guidingtech.com has a great write up on how to solve the common CD&DVD missing drive issue.

Here is a link to their original article.

Sometimes your CD or DVD drive doesn’t show up in the My Computer section. You can’t use your CD/DVD drive in spite of actually having it on your computer. Also, sometimes it may happen that it shows up but is unable to play the files in CD/DVD.

Such problems in Windows aren’t that uncommon. This could arise due to many reasons. Some common reasons are:

• Corrupted registry entry.
• CD/DVD driver problem.
• Installation and un-installation of  DVD recording programs.
• Un-installation of Microsoft Digital Image.

This articles elaborates all the necessary steps you have to perform to solve the missing drive problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows XP.

How to solve missing cd/dvd drive issue

You can solve this problem by using the in-built troubleshooter in Windows 7 or by tweaking your computer’s registry settings in Windows Vista and XP. Note that if you change or delete a wrong registry file then it might result in serious issues with your PC. Therefore it is highly advisable to backup your registry before starting the process.

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A while ago we recommended Microsoft Security Essentials (link here).

A recent update to Microsoft Security Essentials has started causing some problems on our computers and some client’s as well. It appears that since the update it has been using much more resources and slowing the computer way down. In some cases when task manager is opened it will be using as much as 250mb of system ram just idling. Makes Firefox look like it is light on resources huh?

This seems to only be related to our machines with Windows XP (Home/Pro/MCE) none of our Vista or Win7 systems have had this problem.

What we have tested and we recommend that you uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials and install Avira Free Edition

Download Here: http://www.free-av.com/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

Lets go through that installation process now:  (see all screenshots)

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What is Windows XP Mode?

Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 makes it easy to install and run many Windows XP productivity applications directly from your Windows 7-based PC. It utilizes virtualization technology, such as Windows Virtual PC, to provide a virtual Windows XP environment for Windows 7.

Although Windows 7′s “XP Mode” has been a welcome feature of the new operating system, there’s been a fair bit of confusion brought on by the virtualization layer’s hardware requirements.

To work, XP Mode has required a PC processor that supports hardware virtualization, and that feature had to be turned on in the computer’s BIOS (basic input/output system). Those requirements caused some problems, as PC owners didn’t always have an easy way to tell if their system fit the bill.

Well, those requirements are no more. As part of a wave of virtualization announcements on Thursday, Microsoft said people running Windows 7 will now be able to use XP Mode without having to know whether their PC processor supports hardware virtualization.

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