In the past, using XP, I know I had the option to "start video automatically", but now I have MSPowerPoint 2010 on W8.1 and am having trouble getting a video to start automatically when that slide with the video appears. In the past, I also didn't see the start arrow and timeline bar at the bottom. Now, when I'm mousing around trying to get the video to start, a start arrow and time bar appears at the bottom. I don't need my audience to see that; just want the video to begin when that slide comes up on the presentation.

Also, I think videos used to be linked and I had to make sure I had all necessary files if copying to a thumb drive for presentation. Now, it seems like there is no option to link and all PPt videos are automatically imbedded. I'm not sure there is an advantage. It makes "saves" very slow, for one thing, resaving a long video inside the PPt every time. Can I have the option to link?