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-   -   Currently developed DVD burning software? (https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/dvd-menus/8505-currently-developed-dvd.html)

bvanevery 02-22-2018 01:56 PM

Currently developed DVD burning software?
 
ImgBurn was released in 2013. I've been using it fine but I'm a little concerned that no maintenance or bugfixes have happened since then. We are now in the Windows 10 era. I have a higher expectation of things going wrong over time, as Microsoft keeps pushing out patches that break various things on computers. My concern has elevated because I'm now deciding upon a DVD burning program for my Mom's critical data backup. The idea is she'll burn a DVD and put it in a safe deposit box. She's not a technical user and if anything goes wrong, like a random bug, I won't always be around to help her do it. Myself, I'd just find a different burner program and have at it, but for her I'd like to find something with more "shelf life".

Windows 10 itself has DVD burning capabilities built in, but they are awkward and error prone for a non-technical user. The ImgBurn UI is a lot more sane. Big pretty pictures and stuff.

I've also used InfraRecorder but again, it's old. Last release was from 2012.

I just tried something called WinX DVD Author but first the installer went weird, maybe because it didn't task switch properly in the presence of an old game I was playing. Then it turned out to be strangely oriented towards burning music CDs or something. Weird UI. So I uninstalled it.

lordsmurf 02-22-2018 02:28 PM

No real reason for updates, for CD/DVD. At most, for Blu-ray hardware/discs, an update would be nice, but even BD-R mostly works fine.

WinX is almost like malware with the way it behaves. You'd better be careful downloading those cheapware programs. Quite a few of them are nasty, and owned by the same overall Chinese company.

You already know what's best, what works: ImgBurn. And FYI, you don't want the final version of ImgBurn, as it contains spyware, and infects your computer. It borrows deep like a bug, hard to kill. Get the version attached in this forum, the final known-safe version. The final "update" to ImgBurn simply added the spyware, nothing more. LightningUK got paid some big bucks for that, but lost all credibility from it.

BurnAware is an alternative, but not sure how many updates it gets either. I'd only use it for data, or music CD-R, not DVD-Video or BDMV/BDAV.

I think you're worrying over nothing. Ain't broke, don't fix it. :wink2:

bvanevery 02-22-2018 02:32 PM

Oh, good to know. Norton did just vanquish the download of ImgBurn on my Mom's computer. Quarantined without reservation or compunction.

I found something called BurnAware that claims Windows 10 support. I have a vague memory of maybe using it in the past. However the general problem with a lot of these programs has been adware, particularly invasive "click too fast and you approved it" stuff during installation. I've learned to click very slowly.

lordsmurf 02-22-2018 02:40 PM

I was editing my post, remembered BurnAware just after I hit submit. :cool:

Those click-too-fast payloads can be nasty things. You're wise to click slow and read carefully. Even EULAs can be sneaky, silently installing junk even without clicking. Note that the final ImgBurn still installed junk even when you unchecked the box. I don't recall BurnAware having those in days gone by, but that may have changed. BurnAware was always my go-to for CD-R music after Nero 5.5 quit seeing new drives, and post-5 versions of Nero were bloatware crap with bugs.

I still use ImgBurn in Win7/Win8, and Win10 is not vastly different for the optical burning aspect. The OS really has little bearing on the process, and is completely between the burning program and the hardware drive.

Norton is turning into bloatware itself, too many false positives in recent years. Always use VirusTotal to double-check alleged/accused software. Verify, don't trust Norton (or anything else).

bvanevery 02-22-2018 02:46 PM

I am noticing your fourm post attaches ImgBurn 2.5.5. On their official site are 3 further versions: 2.5.6, 2.5.7, and 2.5.8. Now the last one is "known bad" but what about the 2 previous versions?

Also the Change log of 2.5.8 claims they fixed lots of things, aside from the addition of the spyware.

As for antivirus, I agree that Norton is junky and I do not recommend it to anyone. I am trusting of Malwarebytes. It has solved several computer crises over the years, especially in cases where Norton didn't. Do you have a reason to dislike Malwarebytes?

Because of those Change logs, I'm giving BurnAware a try. Installation was going ok until I got to the adware portion. I chose "Decline" and then the dialog boxes seemed to hang. Some kind of underwindow / underdisplay problem. Ended the task with Task Manager. Then suddenly the final "you're finished" dialog box came up, but I couldn't react to it fast enough before it closed. Despite all of that, the program seemed to install just fine. I'm just noting for the record that it was a bumpy and unprofessional installation experience. We'll see if it's an indicator of other things.

Norton didn't complain about the BurnAware installer. If it works ok, then I'll download it on the 2nd computer and see if Malwarebytes complains.

lordsmurf 02-22-2018 03:00 PM

Both myself and the admin of VH tested ImgBurn some years ago. I now forget the exact reason why this site settled on 2.5.5.0 being attached here, but it was for safety. Prior to 2.5.8.0, and the Uniblue and OpenCandy crap that would reattempt install even after you declined, previous versions contained Ask toolbars. So technically, 2.5.7.0 has an Ask toolbar...

... though it can be blocked and removed. I use the Sphinx Windows10Firewall Control, and you'll see the path when running ImgBurn. You can then use Unlocker 1.9 or Process Explorer to halt it, then delete it. It hides in a Windows temp folder, and never releases (thus never flushed).

2.5.5.0 should be clean, I don't recall.

Baldrick (VH admin) disagreed, and only considered 2.5.0.0 safe, but I find it too old. This was back in 2014. He had consider ImgBurn to be adware, though seems to have silently reverted it to freeware status. Odd.

That all went on here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...-Imgburn/page4

BTW, another updated option is CDBurnerXP, but again only good for data. Not DVD-Video, and not even music CD-R.

bvanevery 02-22-2018 05:05 PM

On the positive side, MalwareBytes didn't find anything wrong with BurnAware. I like the labeling prefix-date-suffix feature available, as I can set it to something intelligent for my Mom's computer for backup. Less for her to fuss with. It was smart enough to include hidden files and folders, whereas the Windows stuff isn't. It was unable to include some long, strangely named files associated with the Windows Store, but I don't care about those.

On the negative side, burning and verifying 3 GB took about 1 hour. That seems slow to me. Does it seem slow to you? BurnAware claims the average write speed was 5.2x, 7145 KB/s.

Also, 12 files failed verification with "unable to read". Maybe that's a good thing and BurnAware is doing its job. I will try again. It's my last DVD in this ancient stack of DVDs. I threw most of them out today because they had developed scratches on their shiny sides. I have been carrying them around various places and I'm sure physical movement / jostling caused the scratches over time.

-- merged --

On my 2nd attempt, at least 100 files failed verification, so I threw that one out. I've got 1 DVD left in this batch. The speed was much faster though, took about a half hour.

-- merged --

On my 3rd attempt I did get a clean, verified burn. That greatly diminishes the likelyhood that the software is part of the problem. I will be obtaining new and hopefully better media tomorrow and will try further experiments.

It didn't happen the next day, but eventaully I obtained Verbatim AZO DVD-R blanks off of Amazon. Had no problems whatsoever burning them with BurnAware Free. My Mom has 2 backups of her user directory now, 1 of which will go in her safe deposit box. As well as a new computer, 2 USB drives for Dell reinstallation from scratch, 2 DVDs for Microsoft reinstallation from scratch, and a complete clone of her hard drive, already in a drive cage, ready to be physically swapped out if disaster strikes. And the old computer which still works "fine" as long as Microsoft doesn't infect it with more stupid updates.

The theme here is "redundancy". $900 later, we got it!


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