My first experience with writing data to optical disc was with Nero Burning ROM many moons ago in the late 1990s with Windows 98. When I upgraded to Windows XP, one of the first features I used was the ability to burn discs using the OS and nothing else. It worked well for the most part.

What I mean by "the most part" is that there are times when Windows simply will not write to a disc correctly, and even now in Windows 7, the OS still is a bit on the wonky side when it comes to this simple task.

The only software I use to burn discs now is ImgBurn, and these are the 5 reasons why.

1. Free.

Burning data to disc shouldn’t cost you anything.

2. Does not put deep hooks into Windows.

Deep hooking is when software inserts way too many registry entries, gets in the way of normal Windows operation and in some instances will even slow Windows down. ImgBurn doesn’t do that. It knows how to keep its distance, so to speak.

3. Can create and burn ISO images easily.

If you need to make a backup of a CD or DVD (such as for a driver disc), ImgBurn makes it easy.

4. Stupidly easy interface.

Even though ImgBurn does have advanced options (available under Mode at top), chances are you’ll rarely stray from these six big buttons. In fact, you’ll probably only use the top four.

5. Informative.

My single largest complaint with the way Windows writes discs is that it doesn’t tell you anything other than it’s burning a disc. What’s the write speed? Were there any restarts in the writing process? Will all this data fit on the disc? You don’t know, and Windows won’t tell you.

ImgBurn on the other hand tells you everything. The secondary window under the primary informs you of all that’s going on when writing to disc and does so in a way that’s easy to understand.

I consider ImgBurn to be mandatory software for any Windows user – even if you use a fancy paid program like Nero. It’s software done right the first time and does exactly what you want it to do every time.

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