What's an .iso file? .iso is an image file of a CD or DVD without the physical CD/DVD of course. Many people's use it to backup their CD/DVD in case in spoil after some time. To create .iso file, you can use free software burner tools to create a duplicate image of your CD's. But how do you run the iso file? Easy, there's free software online that let you create virtual drive and run your iso image file. It's just like placing the actual CD's in your optical drive, instead you do everything on your PC by mounting the iso image into the virtual drive. The virtual you create will act just like the CD/DVD drive on your computer.
The two most popular virtual emulation software are "Daemon" & "Alcohol 120%". I preferred the former as it's easier to use. Daemon doesn't have any fancy interface or whole lots of options, after you installed the software, it'll display as a small icon on your taskbar. Then to use it, right click on the icon and create a virtual drive. You can create as many as 5 virtual drive and mount different iso image into each different drive. This will save you time un-mounting and mounting different iso file that's always in use. It's also something that your optical drive can't do, every time you want to change a cd's you have to take the cd out and place the second one in. Although such issues has been fixed considerably when DVD becomes the standard format of external storage. Daemon emulation software also comes with security bypass system, you can easily turn it on by selecting which security system you want to bypass. Why do you need this? A lot's of games today's have third party security software installed to prevent pirated copy's from running, some even install it in your PC without you knowing it and it can't be remove unless you reformat your hard drive. The biggest annoyance of these security software is that it could slow down your computer. Daemon let you bypass these software and install the game in your computer. But make sure you have the latest version of daemon.
The second emulation software is Alcohol 120%. I have used it before but that's quite some time back. From my faint experience, the whole software is too complicated to use. Daemon does a good job for me that's why I haven't thought of changing another software. Alcohol 120% has a free trial & paid version, maybe that's the reason why I don't like about Alcohol 120%. I'm a free software supporter, but I know the company are trying to make a living too. As long as the software is good, I'll definitely recommend it. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with Alcohol 120%. I have been to a lot of forum and community, most feedback and recommendation are on the positive side, so I guess the software should be good. Alcohol 120% not only let you mount virtual image, but it also let you create backups of DVDs and CDs which daemon doesn't. Daemon software only let you mount an existing Iso or others virtual image file, it can't be used to create an image file. If you need a software that can let you create backup cds or dvds, then Alcohol 120% might be a better choice. But you might need to spend money on buying it, I'm sure there's some limitation on the trial version to an extent.
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