Mounting ISOs in Windows 7 with free tools
What is an ISO File and why do I need to access it?
An ISO file is a disk image file format defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Thus, the file format is named after the organization that created it. Likely, any time that a CD or DVD image is stored on a hard drive (instead of an optical disk), it is stored as an "ISO file". These files end in the extension of ".iso".
For example, if you download Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, or Microsoft Office, all of those will be in the .ISO file format. Also, desktop and server virtualization software is able to mount these .ISO files in the virtual DVD drive of the virtual machine. If you are using VMware Workstation or Microsoft Virtual PC, both of these mount .ISO files to install the operating system or applications. Still, there are times when you just need a single file out of an ISO image. Or, there are times when you want to mount an ISO image on your local computer (without a virtualization solution) to install an application.
In Windows 7, if you double-click on an .ISO file, you will be prompted to burn it to a CD/DVD disk, like this:
Figure 1
Shortcut To Turn off The Monitor
Have you ever wanted to hit a shortcut key to turn off the monitor? Sure, you can use the Win+L combination to lock the screen, but that leaves your monitor on… and those of us with multiple monitors find it a pain to hunt down the power buttons all the time.
First we’ll show you how to simply power off the monitor, and then how to both lock and power it off.