Every time I put in a cd, the MS program automatically comes on, as in the Windows Explorer list, even if I haven't clicked on it.  Then my cd burner won't open.  It says the other thing is still running.  I have to reboot with the cd in place to get the burner to open.

   That is called AutoPlay.

   You can temporarily disable AutoPlay by holding down on the Shift button when the CD is inserted.

   To permanently disable AutoPlay do one of the following (restart Windows to take effect):

• WinXP - open Windows Explorer (you can do this by right clicking on the Start button and selecting Explore from the popup menu).  Right click on the CD drive and select Properties from the popup menu.  Go to the AutoPlay tab, select a type of file in the top dropdown box (you will have to go through each one, one at a time, to disable all of them), select the "Select an action to perform" item (if it is not marked, you will not be able to scroll down the list), scroll down to "Take no action" and select it.
  
• WinXP and Win2000 - You can disable AutoPlay in the registry by going to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom and setting the Autorun value to 0.  
  
• Win95/98/ME -
  Go to the Device Manager (one way to get there is to open the System item in the Control Panel).  Open the CD-ROM branch, and select the entry for your CD drive.
  Click Properties, go to the Settings tab, and turn off the Auto insert notification option.
  
• Win95/98/ME - You can disable AutoPlay in the registry by going to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and changing the NoDriveTypeAutoRun value from 95 00 00 00 to BD 00 00 00.
  

Thank you so very much.  How simple! It works.