PowerISO

Pros

• Offers a free version with fairly light restrictions.
• Works with multiples types of discs along with USB drives.
• Very easy interface that any user should understand.

Cons

• The processing time is slower than some other similar programs even if you have the paid version.

PowerISO is a program that works with ISO files to burn discs and bootable USB drives. This works with several kinds of discs along with multiple files like documents, images, videos and more. There are both free and paid versions to choose from. The free version has some restrictions, but they are easy to work with.

Basic Features

PowerISO's main feature is that it can work with ISO files, also known as disc images. These are mountable files that can be placed on different forms of media. ISO files are most commonly burned to discs. PowerISO can work with the three most common types of discs. This includes CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

All three of these work exactly the same. Just select the files that you want to add to the disc and PowerISO will convert them to the ISO format before burning them. If the disc is rewritable, then PowerISO can be used to extract or add files to the disc.

This program can also be used to make bootable USB drives. These are USB drives that have an operating system installed on them. This is useful for new computers, when creating partitions or if a computer crashed and you need to reinstall the operating system.

Paid and Free Versions

There are both paid and free versions of PowerISO. There are normally some restrictions with this arrangement and PowerISO is no exception. Some people will be perfectly fine with these restrictions while others will need the paid version. The free version of PowerISO won't allow you to work with disc image files larger than 300MB. Since files are getting larger and larger in general, this might be a problem for some users.

Another small problem is that the processing time is slower than with the paid version. It's not by a huge margin, but it's sizable enough where larger disc images will take longer to burn. Since you are restricted to 300MB at most with the free version, this shouldn't take too long in general.

User Interface

PowerISO's user interface is very simple to use. Begin by choosing all the files you want to add to the disc image. You can also just drag-and-drop the files into the program and it will be added to the image. You will then tell PowerISO which drive to burn the files to and it will take care of the rest.

There are other tools for selecting the speed and other features, but these are equally simple to use and rarely require your input. Any user should find this program easy.

Advanced Features

There are more advanced features for mounting virtual drives, working with rewritable media and encrypting files. These tools are kept to the side so that beginners don't need to use them, but advanced users can easily access them. While there aren't a ton of advanced features, there are some extra things that you can do if you're willing to try out the other tools.

Pros

• Offers a free version with fairly light restrictions.
• Works with multiples types of discs along with USB drives.
• Very easy interface that any user should understand.

Cons

• The processing time is slower than some other similar programs even if you have the paid version.