Free Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu!

Software Description

The following is a description of Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu as per the developer:

When you insert a commercial program disc it will often start automatically with a graphical menu that lets you make choices like installing a program, displaying a web page, viewing documentation or information material and so on.

Building these discs and menus manually is a lot of work and requires programming skills – and even if you have the skills it takes a long time.

Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu takes all the work out of building autoplay discs with a simple point-and-click interface. And it includes CD and DVD burning so that you can create your finished discs without leaving the program.

Build autoplay CDs, DVDs or thumb drives

In addition to CDs and DVDs, Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu can also build USB thumb drives that “autoplay” directly on insertion, complete with interactive multi-page menus. You can build discs with multiple slide shows and movies with a navigation menu. Or you can create USB thumb drives with a collection of portable applications and a navigation menu for selecting them.

Alternatively, you can also build your content to a folder on your hard drive that you can then copy or process further yourself.

Stand-alone or browser-based menus

Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu gives you two different ways to display the autoplay navigation menus that display when the disc or drive is inserted: As a stand-alone application that will run on all Windows computers, or as HTML files that display in a normal web browser. All the functions except the splash screen are available in both versions.

Functions and features

When the disc or USB thumb drive is inserted a graphical menu is displayed for user interaction. You can also design and display a “splash screen” – a graphical page that displays for a short definable period before the menu appears. You can create multi-page menus with buttons for executing functions and navigating between the menu pages, with animated transitions between the pages. Button functions include starting programs, opening documents, opening web pages, creating emails and a wide range of options for navigating between your menu screens. You can add background sounds in a wide variety of formats to play once or loop while the menus are displayed.

Content

The disc or USB drive you create can contain anything you like – you define the folder structure and select the files and folders you want to include. It’s effectively a data CD building program with added options for autoplay functions and menus.

Point-and-click editor and disc burner

Creating your menus couldn’t be easier: You just point and click to add objects and position them. A selection of themes with images and ready-to-use button layouts are included for even faster results. In addition to buttons you can add text, geometric shapes, background images, additional images and tables for formatted information with a full-featured table editor.

Images for backgrounds and other menu components can be acquired directly from a scanner, digital camera, online web page, file on your hard drive or other sources.

dotTech Advice

dotTech reviewed Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu in December 2010. The final verdict of that review sums up how I feel about this program:

By far the biggest drawback to Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu is the inability to retrofit menus onto external media that already have files on them. In addition, Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu still needs a few tweaks that allow it to better work with the anti-autorun.inf culture. However, despite its drawbacks, Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu is a good program; I give it a thumbs up. If it was able to retrofit menus, I would have recommended this program in a heartbeat. As it stands, though, it cannot so all I can say is get Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu if you feel it fits your needs.

That said, Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu via this promotion is the same version as what was given out on GOTD last month; so if you got it then, you don’t need to get it now. However, you may want to consider the fact that GOTD giveaways may not be able to be reinstalled at later dates – this giveaway is probably re-installable whenever you want (however I don’t know this for sure, so don’t quote me on it).

Freebie Details

To get Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu for free, follow these simple directions:

Version being given out for free: v1.0.3.94

Free updates: Probably not

Supported OS: Windows XP/Vista/Win7

Download size: 20 MB

Visit the ComputerBild.de promotion page and download the program:
After the download has finished, install Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu. (The installer and program are in English.) During installation take special note to not install MyAshampoo toolbar and make other junk changes to your computer if you don’t want to:

After installation has finished, a registration page should automatically open in your default Internet browser. Enter your e-mail address at the registration page:

After you enter your e-mail address and hit Senden, what happens next will depend on if you have an existing account with Ashampoo or not:

Existing Account

You will be asked to login using your password:

After you login, Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu’s registration key will be displayed to you:

New Account

You will need to check the inbox of the e-mail address you registered with. Look for an e-mail from Ashampoo <MrReg@ashampoo.com> with the subject of Registrierung (Schritt 1) … folgen Sie dem Link in dieser E-Mail. In the e-mail there will be a confirmation link you need to follow:

Once you follow the link, you will need to fill out a short form:

After you fill out the short form Ashampoo MyAutoplay Menu’s registration key will be displayed to you: