ImgBurn

Operating Systems & Open Source
1

Greetings fellow forum users!

I have a tale to share, with a warning and a bit of a question.

Today I found myself in need of an ISO image of a Windows install DVD, so I turned to my historically favourite tool for the job, ImgBurn.

I downloaded the installer fresh from ImgBurn’s own mirror. Upon running it I was informed that ByteFence Antivirus would be installed, with no option to opt-out. A similar screen followed stating that Opera Browser would be installed, with a tick box that I couldn’t un-tick.

Despite my apprehension I proceeded with the install. This was a mistake.

The installer went through an overlong install procedure citing various files being put in various locations, but when it was finally “done” the true horror was revealed.

The NSIS installer (with stock branding I might add) had in fact installed the following “programs” on my system.
ByteFence Antivirus (Basically just garbage)
Yahoo!Powered (Definitely complete crapware)
Opera (A browser nobody wants packed with telemetry)
Chromium (Google’s open source browser. No Windows user would ever install this so I presume it was maliciously modified)
Download Manager (No uninstaller, almost certainly just malware)

On top of the above offending items it also made the following changes.
Pinned Opera to Taskbar
Pinned Chromium to Taskbar
Pinned Facebook link to Taskbar
Made Yahoo default search engine
Two verisons of “Search Manager” Chrome extension

Finally I decided to investigate the “Download Manager” abomination, to find that there was no obvious way to install it and it had added the following.
DMGR 1.25 “Nehodos Setup” was running in the background, appearing in the tray
dlcc_service was running set to Automatic
DLCCCATS in startup (C:\Windows\System32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\DLCCtime.dll,RunDDLEntry)

Needless to say I was surprised by the extent of the crapware installed with software I actually wanted, but in a way it has been an education as to how end users manage to get this rubbish on their PCs.

So, I come to you with both a warning and to seek assistance.

What should I use instead of ImgBurn when I need to work on discs and disk images in Windows.

Many thanks, Fantom.

1 Like
2

I have an ImgBurn installer (still the latest version) from before they included all of those things: http://www.mediafire.com/file/lj81lxgzak77gi6/imgburn+v2.5.8.0.exe

I must have downloaded that ages ago.

And keep a backup of the installer somewhere. I do that with all of my programs. And it seems that now I have another good reason to do that.

3

If youre in need of a clean copy of windows 10 I have one I made from an OEM disk for work. PM me for the link as its on a work server and I dont want to just share that out.

As far as software to deal with images and create them. I typically use stuff I find on sourceforge. Its not a catch all for crapware but generally the stuff on there is trustworthy.

1 Like
4

I have a clean copy of Windows 10 1703 uploaded to Mega.nz if anyone wants that. Would save you from sharing out your work server.

(Removed)

5

Major Geeks has a version of IMG Burn that does not have the malware-
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/imgburn.html

I personally use CDBurnerXP for my ISO ripping/burning needs. Get the w/o install core version(version#_minimal.exe) or the portable version which are on this page-
https://cdburnerxp.se/download?more-options

6

Oh god no. Why? WHY?!?
This is wrongthink
Windows 10 is a rolling release. If you give this guy a stale ass old copy of Windows 10, he’s going to end up spending another several hours updating to the latest revision. What is the current version of Win 10 these days? Fall Creators Update?

If you need a Windows 10 ISO, just get their utility directly from their site. Doesn’t matter if you have an OEM or retail license, the ISO works for either (enterprise editions you should know what to do or ask your admin)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

7

Yeah. Microsoft offer windows 10 iso downloads already, no need for alternatives.

What’s wrong with Rufus for iso burning?

8

I basically don’t burn discs anymore. And I am not on windows.
For any kind of image that I want to put on a USB drive, I use Etcher (multiplatform).
If something does not work (which hasn’t happened yet), there is DD.

9

Because not all machines receive all updates at work. I like my windows 10 “feature” free. Some people like doing it that way so they can hand pick their updates. We’re a small org that can’t justify the cost of ltsb. So that’s why I keep an old copy around.

10

Thanks for all the great replies!

I am using Rufus for USB creation (since DD on Linux doesn’t work for Windows boot media), but I’m looking for a more versatile “ripping” tool for Windows.

Thankfully this computer is one in need of a rebuild anyway and I have clean Windows 10 installer (1709).

I’ll check out MajorGeeks’ mirror since this PC is getting wiped soon and CDBurnerXP looks interesting. I’ve used K3B on Linux, looking for something like that.

11
12

On those screens if you look in the tiny text theres blue read more bittons and thats where they hide the opt outs

13

I’ve used Rufus for some years now, always a joy to use

https://rufus.akeo.ie/