The following assumes that it's a BSOD that's causing your reboots. Otherwise, it's irrelevant.

Windows XP will automatically reboot if you encounter a BSOD, assuming it's a BSOD that's causing your system to reboot. To disable the auto reboot and see the BSOD, right click MY COMPUTER, choose ADVANCED tab, click SETTINGS under Startup and Recovery and uncheck "Automatically Restart" under "System Failure". This is for Win XP. I do not know if the same applies to Vista or 7. If the BSOD occurs again, write down the info it shows and Google it.

You can also look for the minidump file. It's located in C:\WINDOWS\Minidump on my system. You need software to read the dump file. You can either use Windows Debugging Tools, which is a PITA imo as it requires a rather large download and then you have to burn it to a disc. Another option is BlueScreenView by Nirsoft. The Windows Debugging Tools may give better results, I don't know as I've not spent very much time deciphering BSODs. IMO, there should be a website where you can upload a minidump and have it give you an analysis, but I have not found one. You could try uploading your minidump to another message board and let someone there decipher it and tell you what's likely causing the BSOD. Good luck. :)

EDIT: I just remembered something that caused my system to reboot randomly several years ago. It's just one of many things that could cause it, but what was causing mine was that I did not install the motherboard properly. I was still a noob back then and I didn't use all of the plastic offsets when I put in the motherboard. Occasionally, the board would make contact with the case and it would short it out and reboot. I was lucky that I didn't fry the board. :oops:

Is it possible to edit your posts? I would edit my previous post, but I don't see the option.

Anyway, I think you would need a special USB hub for connecting to two computers at once or would need to connect the drive to a router or something. Another option is to connect the hard drive to 1 computer and then share it so that other computers on your home network would be able to access it.

EDIT: Found the edit option. ThanksSnotweasel530.:)

Are you sure the Y cable isn't to allow the hard drive to pull it's power solely from the USB ports? The only Y USB cables that I've used were designed to allow the device to pull power from 2 USB ports so you wouldn't have to plug the device into a wall outlet. I don't know if you can connect a USB device to 2 computers at once, but I may be wrong.

What's the name of the folder? Did it start appearing after you installed any applications? What OS are you using? If you are at all technical, I suggest using Autoruns by Sysinternals (now a part of Microsoft) to troubleshoot startup issues. It will show you EVERYTHING. If you are using Vista you could try Windows Defender. I think it allows troubleshooting startup issues as well. Another tool that could help you pinpoint a malicious startup process would be HijackThis by Trend Micro. You can get it from Trend Micro or cnet. There are a couple of websites where you can upload your HijackThis log and they will help you try to figure out which entries may be malicious. Two HijackThis log analyzers that I've used are http://www.hijackthis.de/ and http://hjt.networktechs.com/.

PC parts are idiot proof now, anyone can do it, and you can't put something in the wrong way, because it won't fit.Amith12