My CD drive on a dell laptop keeps opening up very erratically. No disk in it. Just keeps popping open usually every minute or so. Any ideas?

I can't really think of any specific reason for it happening, other than a possible virus infection. Make sure your antivirus software is up to date, and do a scan. If you don't have antivirus, or yours is out of date and can't be updated, use the free online scan here:
Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan - Trend Micro USA