If you have ever used Linux of any modern flavor like Ubuntu or Mint, then you know that when you insert a CD/DVD or a USB key into your computer, it creates a desktop shortcut to the inserted media for you to easily access it. But such functionality is not present in any version of Windows. Although Windows 8 asks you what to do with inserted removable media, but it does not create any desktop shortcut for you to access that media anytime you want. This is where the freeware Desk Drive software comes in. Desk Drive creates shortcuts to removable media on your desktop as soon as they are inserted.
You can get Desk Drive from the website of the Blue Onion software. The download is a setup installer and installs Desk Drive on your Windows PC. After the installation, it will place a notification area icon that looks like a USB key. You can right-click on this icon and select Settings from the menu to open the settings window.
In the settings window you can choose which type of disk drives you want to create desktop shortcuts for. By default, it creates shortcuts only for CD/DVD drives and removable disk drives (like USB keys and memory cards), but you can also choose to create the shortcut icons for fixed, networked or RAM drives.
There are also options to hide the system tray icon, automatically run it on startup, show positional effects (a circle appears to indicate the new shortcut), remind to remove the media and many more.
The Desk Drive is a helpful utility for all Windows users who do not want to open Windows Explorer to access the disk drives every time they have to access the newly inserted media. It is available for all Windows versions from XP to Windows 8.
You can download Desk Drive from http://mike-ward.net/deskdrive.