iso

Enhanced for Windows 7

With version 14 of this venerable archiving tool, WinZip aims specifically at Windows 7 compliance and enhancements, and adds a few other new features, too. WinZip in Windows 7 gets extensive support for libraries, tools, and recent archives in the jumplist, previews in Windows Explorer for certain file types, and basic touch-screen support. Multitouch support is limited to rotating pictures previewed from WinZip archives.

WinZip 14 also includes minor security enhancements. New automatic wiping keeps confidential data secret by "shredding" the temporary file that WinZip creates by default whenever it opens an archive. The shredding uses U.S. … Read more

Microsoft acknowledges Windows 7 activation leak

Alex Kochis, Microsoft's director of Genuine Windows, posted a blog late Thursday addressing the "leak of a special product key" of Windows 7 RTM (release to manufacturers). This confirmed the rumor on Tuesday that an ISO file of Windows 7 RTM sent to Lenovo that contains a master key--a number used to verify the authenticity of the software--was leaked to the Internet.

According to the blog, "The key is for use with Windows 7 Ultimate RTM product that is meant to be preinstalled by the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) on new PCs to be shipped later … Read more

Solid WinZip alternative

A new interface kicks off TurboZip 8, a reliable compression alternative to WinZip. The easy-to-use archiving tool now supports an even wider range of formats, including 7Z, MS Office 2007 archives, ISO, and BZIP. Two new features make it worth considering: the robust preview feature that makes peering into archived files much simpler, and the Auto Compress Script, which allows you to build new archives based on predetermined criteria.

The preview window can show the contents of not just JPEG and DOC files, but MSI, EXE, and others. It's also blazingly fast, and previewed large files without delay. A … Read more

ISO creation in a snap

Creating ISO images has never been so easy, thanks to Free ISO Creator's basic, functional user interface. We just wish it had included a Help file for novice users.

The user interface is pretty plain, but extremely easy to figure out because it walks you through the ISO creation process. You'll see a tree-style menu file list, and commands for adding files and folders to that list. There are also commands for renaming files and deleting them. Each time you add a file or folder to the list, a size-limit bar at the bottom updates to let you … Read more

Launch several OS's from one disc

Highly versatile and especially proficient with boot discs, UltraISO Premium creates, edits, and burns disc images in several popular formats: ISO, BIN, Nero, Alcohol, CloneCD, and Xbox. It also converts images among formats. UltraISO supports data and audio/video discs and includes a simple MP3 encoder, but it really excels at creating bootable discs. It even can create a disc with a menu for booting several OSs.

The interface is well organized, though rather plain, and we wish its icons were more readable. Also on the negative side, the program can't mount CD images, which will diminish its value … Read more

How to burn an ISO image

A lot of our tips here at CNET require you to burn an ISO image to CD. Many of you have written in asking how the heck to do that. Here's the video on how. Watch that then come back for the steps.

An ISO file is a single file, usually with the extension .ISO. Sometimes, on Macs, they may be called .CDR. It's essentially all the data that goes on a CD, also called a disk image. When you burn the ISO to CD, you're essentially creating an exact copy of the CD the ISO was … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 759: Worms on the tongue

And that, my friends, is how we get you to listen all the way to the end. But in actual news of the day, a judge ordered Google to expose the viewing habits of millions of YouTube users. But it's OK, because only a few people will get to look at them. That's fine, right? Also, we freak out about privacy and identity theft, just in time for a study that acknowledges that consumers are freaking out about privacy and identity theft. Plus, the power of video compels you...to switch to broadband.

Listen now: Download today's podcast … Read more

Adobe's PDF becomes ISO standard

Adobe Systems' popular portable document format, or PDF as it's more well-known, has become the latest International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard as of Wednesday morning.

Adobe has been the key developer and patent holder of the technology, and on Wednesday passed over the entire specification of version 1.7 to the Geneva-based ISO. This comes just a year and a half after Adobe made plans to open up by giving the specification to the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) which was to lay the groundwork for ISO certification.

The ISO has issued a press release about … Read more

Adobe toys with standardizing DNG raw photo format

Adobe Systems is discussing potential standardization of its Digital Negative (DNG) format for digital images, a company executive has said.

Most people are fine with plain-old JPEG for their images, but higher-end cameras can produce more flexible and higher-quality "raw" photos that are encoded with camera makers' proprietary formats. Because different cameras produce different formats, companies such as Adobe whose software deals with raw files face a daunting engineering challenge understanding.

DNG is designed as an alternative to the profusion--what Adobe calls a Tower of Babel--but it hasn't caught on widely. Ricoh, Casio, Pentax, and a few … Read more