My mac doesn't detect anything that i plug into it- in the end i sometimes find the file of the thing in files but it takes for ages to find , im running osx lion by the way. i have only recently stopped using windows and started using macs but on windows a thing pops up whenever i plug something in , ive seen sometimes people on macs plug something in and it shows up on as a desktop icon , but nothing happens when i plug anything in e.g , cd,usb,spare webcam, and more.. any suggestions ?
Go into the Preferences for Finder and check the items that you want to se in "Show these items on the desktop:". That will work for CD drives, external drives, and USB sticks. For a webcam you need to install and application that uses it (and a driver probably).