WinISO can perform every function you’d need a disc utility for, including creating, converting, editing, extracting, and burning disc images. It supports CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc images in ISO and a variety of other formats. It even includes support for mounting disc images as a virtual drive on your computer. Like a swiss army knife, WinISO gives you everything you’d need in one compact, simple tool.

This week we’ll be giving away 25 copies of WinISO, worth a total of nearly $750. Read on for your chance to enter our giveaway (it’s free!) and win yourself a copy!

The Interface

WinISO has a well-designed, simple interface. It’s easy for utilities with a lot of functions to become bloated and confusing, but WinISO avoids this pitfall. Each function has its own toolbar icon. While you can get free applications that perform each of these functions, you’d have to juggle multiple utilities – often with less-polished designs – to do everything you can do from WinISO’s toolbar.

winiso review

Making & Converting Images

To create an image from a physical disc, click the Make icon on the toolbar. WinISO creates ISO files by default, but you can also create cue sheet, Nero Burning ROM, Alcohol 120%, and CloneCD format files.

winiso review

If you have an image file on your hard drive, you can click the Convert button to convert it between the formats WinISO supports. Some applications only support specific types of images, so converting the file will allow you to use it with other applications.

winiso review

Creating, Editing, & Extracting Images

Click the New File button to create an image from scratch. WinISO gives you a choice of image types, including standard ISO 9660, UDF, HFS+ for Macs, DVD Video, and Hybrid (ISO 9660 and HFS+). You can change the file system and tweak advanced file system options from the FileSystem menu.

You can also open an existing image file using the Open File button.

winiso review

Once you’ve created or opened an image file, you can add files to it or extract file from it using the Add Files or Extract buttons. After making your changes, click the Save button to save the image file, or use the Save As menu option to save it as any image file type you want.

If you’d like to change the disc’s name, right-click the name in the left pane and select Rename.

winiso review

WinISO can also create bootable image files – use the options in the Bootable menu to select a boot image file and customize the disc's boot options.

Burning Discs

WinISO includes an integrated disc-burning tool. Like the rest of WinISO, the Burn dialog offers basically every option you’d need without a cluttered interface. You can erase a rewritable disc, select an image file to burn, and optionally verify your disc after burning it.

Burn any files you want to a disc by creating a new image file in WinISO, adding the files you want to burn, and clicking Burn.

winiso review

Mounting Disc Images

Use the Mount button to mount the current disc image with a single click, making it accessible to Windows and other programs

winiso review

Mounted disc images appear at their own drive letter on your system. You can access the contents of the disc image at the drive letter from any application, including Windows Explorer. This allows you to use the contents of a disc image, whether you need to access files or install programs, without burning the image to a physical disc first.

winiso review

WinISO offers a trial version that you can download for free. The trial version can't save files over 500MB in size, but it’ll let you play with WinISO and give its interface a test drive.

We’re giving away 25 copies of WinISO to 25 of you lucky readers this week, so be sure to enter the giveaway!

How do I win a copy?

It's simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page, our Twitter stream and Google+ page.

The giveaway is over. Here are the winners:
  • Alex
  • Alex Bogherie
  • Andrew
  • Bob F
  • Charles Mashua
  • Daniel Gregory
  • Dorin Mihai
  • Drew Baxter
  • Gene Brown
  • Keefe
  • Kv Vighnesh
  • Marc Flanagan
  • Matthew Winnard
  • Michelle Pollard
  • Mohammed Mannan
  • Nihar Gajare
  • Paul Masters
  • Pr3Y
  • Robert Ocheltree
  • Si-Yong Lim
  • Therese Roth
  • Thomas Johns
  • Tim Schluter
  • Tony Tarlo
  • William D. Billy
Congratulations! If you were selected as a winner, you would have received your license via email from jackson@makeuseof.com. If you require any assistance, please get in touch with jackson@makeuseof.com before June 7. Enquires beyond this date will not be entertained.

Step 2: Share!

You're almost done. Now, all that's left to do is to share the post!

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This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, June 1st. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

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