Free virtual CD tool

I finally got my boss to buy me a MSDN subscription :-)

MSDN comes with a lot of ISO file (CD image files), which are great but I did not want to burn a CD or DVD each time.

I looked for a virtual CD tool to mount this image files, but again did not want to pay for it...

I found that Microsoft has released a free virtual CD tool named "Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel v2.0.1.1". However it does not seem to be really marketed and is not available on MS.com
You can find it on Softpedia (http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/Virtual-CD-DVD-Rom/Virtual-CDROM-Control-Panel.shtml)

The tool is rough but does the job!

Installation instructions

1. Copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%system32\drivers folder.
2. Execute VCdControlTool.exe
3. Click "Driver control"
4. If the "Install Driver" button is available, click it. Navigate to the %systemroot%system32\drivers folder, select VCdRom.sys, and click Open.
5. Click "Start"
6. Click OK
7. Click "Add Drive" to add a drive to the drive list (Ensure that the drive added is not a local drive. If it is, continue to click "Add Drive" until an unused drive letter is available)
8. Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click "Mount".
9. Navigate to the ISO image file, select it, and click "OK" (UNC names don't work).

You may now use the drive letter as if it were a local CDROM device.

When you are finished you may unmount, stop, and remove the driver from memory using the driver control.

IE7 Beta2 Preview available

Microsoft has just released the Beta 2 of IE7.

It can be downloaded from the Microsoft site.

The new UI is simply great and simpler with the useful tab browsing, ripping off all the unuseful menus and toolbars to widen the screen space. A must with the endless growing content of websites. Another great feature to ease content reading is printing improvement, which is supposed to allow you to print pages without them being cut.

I have not tested the supposed now-supported CSS2 standards, but the rendering is good.

The font are rendered slightly differently than with the current browsers. While it is pleasant to read text the font looks like "bolder" (I hope that we won't have all to adjut our style sheets when it is released...)