How to check CD/DVD with a keyboard shortcut

[SoftwareGuy]

On the Mac PC, the CD/DVD drives have no eject button. It is controlled by the system and a special key on the keyboard. If like many users, your PC is under your desk (which always makes acrobatic access to the eject button), here is a trick to control the drive tray for a keyboard shortcut.

For our trick, we use a small utility EMSA Print: CD TRAY PAL. This software offers readers ordering from the notification area of the system (near the clock) and assign keyboard shortcuts to different functions of control players/recorders.

• Download EMSA Print: CD TRAY PAL.
• Unzip the file to your desktop in a folder named CDTray for example.
• Launch the application by clicking the right mouse button, from the desktop, and selecting "Run as administrator". (In Windows XP, simply double-click it).
• On first launch, the software asks you for a activation. Click on "Get a free activation code". The browser opens. Note on the right side of the page under "Main Menu". Locate "CD Tray Pal" at the end of the list and click on ACT partner. The page displays "Your activation code is" followed by a 6-digit code. Select this code, copy it, go back to the activation window of the software and paste the code in the box. Then select "ACTIVATE".
• Once the software is activated and running, it displays a small colored icon in the notification area of the system. Note that if you have two players/recorders on your system, the software will display two icons, one for each player.
• The color of the icon varies depending on the state of the drive:
  
  • Yellow: There is no disk in the drive.
  • Green: A CD or DVD is available in the drive.
• Double-click the program icon in the notification area of the system.
• Open the HotKeys tab
• Select the drive in the "Select Drive"
• Place the cursor over for "Open HotKey CD" (shortcut to open the tray) and select the desired key combination (eg [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [O]).
• Place the cursor over HotKey for "Close CD" (shortcut to close the tray) and select the desired key combination (eg [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [F]).
• Click "Save HotKeys" then click Save Changes and then click Close.
• Try your keyboard and make sure everything works.

Note 1: Be careful not to redefine shortcut keys already used in the applications installed on your computer.

Note 2: You can not define shortcut keys and settle to use the menu that appears when you click on the icon of the software with the right mouse button.

[SoftwareGuy]

Emsa CD Tray Pal is a handy utility that acts as a CD-ROM Drive control menu. It runs in the system tray and makes opening/closing CD door easier than ever, even on multiple CD-ROM drives.

EMSA CD TRAY PAL Features:

• Autorun at system startup
• Runs as system tray icon
• Capable of handling multipe CD-ROM Drives
• OpenCD, CloseCD, GetCD, OpenAll, CloseAll functions
• Handy systray right-click menu
• Provides CD media informaion: Volume name, Size, Serial Number
• Configurable GetCD time interval
• Capable of showing either a single systray icon, or one icon per drive
• Action on system shutdown: Close All / Open All CD doors
• Assignable, system wide Hotkeys per each drive and function
• Tray icon(s) changing color based on whether valid media is inside the drive etc.