on windows XP
1- on systray(right side)you see a left pointing green arrow on top of what looks to be a cf card icon. left button click
2- this bring up a view of what is on your external connection busses. USB, firewire, cardbus. with your mouse select a device just hilight it only don't open the device not the volume letter.
3- on the lower mid right there is a properties button. left button click. this shows info about the device. see tab "policies". in this tab you can decide how the device is optomized to data transfer. option negates the need for the safe hardware removal feature but it will slow the transfer a bit(no cache). with this option when the light goes out or stops flickering you can rip out the card safely from the reader. the other option intros a disk cache to speed transfer along a bit. but then you will be nagged to disconnect the device using the stop button(to clear/disable the cache). this is per device. it is not a one for all button.

[Edited on 9-5-2002 by sjms]

sjms,

Thanks for the tip!

It is necessary to note that modems and the like, plugged into a PCCard slot, don't really have much in the way of options.

But if you click on the "CF" device listing, say, on your list of removeable storage, you do get the options to hot plug or cache, for faster reading.

I didn't know that!

reader