Daemon Tools Lite

CDs and DVDs are a standard way of storing programs and media files but working with them can be frustrating. They are quite slow to access files compared to a hard disk and you need to have the correct disc to hand. One solution is to copy the disc onto your computer and then use software like Daemon Tools Lite to fool the computer into thinking that there is a physical disc in the computer.

Installation is quite simple, but you need to be alert to the fact that the installer will try and install a browser toolbar and change your home page. There's no penalty for disabling these options

Once installed, Daemon Tools Lite appears as a toolbar just above the Windows Taskbar. The right-hand half of the window shows the drive letter that is being used for the virtual drives as well as the name of the disc file once it has been loaded.

Left-click on this section of the Daemon Tools Lite toolbar to select the file to open as a disc. It can open ISO files, the standard for these files, as well as many other formats including MDS, NRG and CDI.

Daemon Tools Lite can also make these images from discs in the computer. Images can be compressed and even password protected.

The rest of the toolbar is dedicated to icons for the various tools and the Daemon web search.