lmbmusic:
Arduino nano...completely independent of any other device/power supply/shield...plugged into a windows xp/7 PC..instead of starting to type...or a key logger...or minic a mouse..open a URL...hows that?
Do you mean that the Arduino will download from the URL via the computer's network connection? Do you need the content of the returned document at the Arduino, or is it sufficient that the document was downloaded at the PC?
You might be able to do something using an autorun file on the storage device - but any sensible person would disable the autorun capability. If you're willing and able to persuade your users to leave it enabled, this opens up some options that you could implement without getting into the depths of USB drivers.
Can we assume that the PC already has the Arduino USB serial drivers installed?