I have a built-in card reader in my laptop, which the computer no doubt thinks is a USB reader. Because of this, Windows shows it in the Safely Remove Hardware thing. Is there a way I can make it not show up? I am running XP Pro SP3.
no The computer doesn't THINK anything. You can't remove those empty drives from My Computer and keep them functional, any more than you could remove your Optical drive from your My Computer listing. You *did* notice how even when you don't have CD in the drive, the optical still shows up. right? That's the SAME thing as the card reader showing up without a card in the slot. Same thing. SAME THING. To reiterate, no, there isn't a way to disable that without actually disabling the card reader. If you are easily confused by the drive letters, try renaming your main hard drive away from Local drive to something easier for you to remember. If you are anal retentive and just the thought of those empty drives showing up in My computer makes your skin crawl, even when you are not looking at them get over it or take your medication. But that whole thing about having to treat a memory card like a USB device you are SUPPOSED to tell the computer you want to remove the flash memory before you actually remove it. Not following procedure can and will damage flash memory. Vista takes things one step further. If you don't follow protocol, Vista wants to scan your flash card every time you put it in afterwards, to ensure it is not damaged.
