UltraISO Review
Overview
UltraISO is an ISO creator for Windows. It lets you create ISO files that can then be either burned to a CD or used by a Virtual CD program. For those of you who don't know, an ISO file is an uncompressed container file that is created from CDs by various programs. Once an ISO is on your hard drive, it can be used by programs like Virtual PC.
This program does what it sets out to do, while making it very easy in the process.
Interface
The interface is almost fool-proof. There is a small toolbar right beneath the menu bar that lets users quickly jump to the function that they want. The menu bar is self-explanatory, nothing really radical there.
It has basically a double-windows-explorer view for adding files to the CD. The top two panels display files on the iso file, and the two on the bottom display files on your computer.
Features
This program is rather full featured. Not only can it create ISO files from scratch, but it can extract them from CDs as well. If you want to, you can pull IMA's off of floppy disks, but the program cannot create them. For bootable CDs, you can extract the boot file and use that to create a bootable CD. You have the option of skipping bad sectors, but it can make the resulting files not work.
The program can save in the ISO, BIN, NERO, Alcohol, and CloneCD formats, so you can use them with virtually any burning program. It can also convert between those formats.
If you have Nero CD burner installed, you can burn CDs with it to. For those who have the trial version, you can only burn 300MB isos, but you can create them as large as you need.
Conclusion
This is a good program. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an easy way to create ISOs. It isn't necessary to get the full version if the 5-second wait dialog doesn't bother you, and you don't burn more than 300MB ISOs.