There are plenty of utilities that will let you mount a disc image as a virtual drive, allowing you to browse the contents without actually burning the image to a disc. But Pismo File Mount is one of the easiest to use that we've seen -- and it has the added benefit of also being able to mount ZIP archives.

To install the free Windows utility you just need to download and run the PFM Audit Package found on the Pismo web site. Once the program is installed, you can mount a ZIP or ISO file by right-clicking on the file and selecting Mount or Quick Mount from the context menu. You can also launch Pismo File Mount first and then browse for the files you want to mount.

Once you map the archive to a virtual drive, you can should be able to view the contents in Windows Explorer. You can also decide whether or not you want read/write or read only access to the archived files.

[via Freeware Genius]

Don't want to download a massive ZIP or RAR file just so you can extract one tiny file contained in the archive? ArchView is a Firefox add-on that will let you preview the contents of ZIP and RAR files posted online before you download them. And you can even download individual files from within the archive.

Archview hangs out in your status bar where you can click on it to enable or disable the plugin or change its settings. Future versions will add support for additional archive formats including ISO and 7z. Archview supports Firefox 2 and Firefox 3, but the version available at the official Firefox add-ons page claims that it isn't compatible with Firefox 3 beta 5 r Firefox 3 RC1. This isn't true, but you'll have to install the plugin from the developer's page if you're using anything newer than Firefox 3 beta 4.

[via gHacks]

YemuZip is a free Mac application for creating zip files for use on a Mac or PC.

But wait, doesn't the Finder have its own built-in Archive (zip) function?

Yes, it does -- but oftentimes, when you create a zip file on a Mac and unzip the file on a PC, you'll get a lot of gobbledy-gook along with your unzipped files. That's because the PC doesn't know how to read the Mac-specific metadata. YemuZip will zip your files in either a Mac or a PC format so you can avoid the unnecessary information.

The application itself couldn't be easier to use. Simply drag and drop the files you wish to compress onto the YemuZip interface, choose whether you want a PC or Mac specific zip format, and away it goes, merrily compressing.

YemuZip is free for personal use, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

[via Cool OSX Apps]

• Archive formats - ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BH, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, JAR, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1
• Disc image formats - BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and Nero's NRG

TUGZip can also create archives in most of these formats, Including self extracting archives. All the wile using a 3 pane explorer interface (or you can change it via options to a more standard one or two pane. TUGzip also includes an explorer context addon, so you can compress files into your favorite archive, without even having to open the program. All of this, and blazing fast too.

[ via Ghacks ]

As far as compression utilities go, most distinctly fall into either very good or or very bad. ZipGenius, however, manages to somehow make it into the middle. It comes in two flavors: the suite and standard edition. Since the suite is filled with extras like a file-cutter and FTP add-on, we're going to focus on the core compression utility that comes with the standard edition.

First, let's start with the good. It does what it says it does. It supports up to 20 formats for decompression, including 7z, and can compress in about as many formats as most of its competitors. Its graphical interface is very "XP" in every sense of the word - which is nice if you like that look. Fortunately if you don't, there are skins available. The utility is straight-forward, easy to use, and best of all, free.

The bad: during the installation there is an irritating pop-up prompt after the license agreement that verifies that you are responsible for all damages as a result of using this program. Quite a turn-off. The fact that it even has skin support might seem like excess, considering that a compression utility is not something you spend a lot of time looking at unless you like compressing and decompressing stuff all day.

The worst part, however, is that there is nothing that really sets ZipGenius apart from its other competitors. 7-Zip and ALZip do almost everything as good or better than ZipGenius. But, that is not to say that ZipGenius isn't a fully fledged compression utility. In fact, if the other utilities weren't available, this might even be a good choice.

Overall, ZipGenius is okay. If you like a user-friendly interface and enjoy skinning your compression utility, ZipGenius might be for you. But if you're looking for pure function and power, the alternatives might prove more rewarding.

One of the first applications we install on every Windows PC and portable flash drive is 7-Zip. This handy little application has never met a ZIP, RAR, or otherwise archived file that it can't extract. But one thing 7-Zip can't handle is archived files that it doesn't think are archives. That's where Universal Extractor comes in handy.

Universal Extractor lets you peek inside the contents of EXE and MSI files. Once you install this free utility you can launch it to peek inside those hard to open archives. Or you can choose to add Universal Extractor options to your Windows context menu.

It's not that often that you really need to know what files are packaged in an EXE, but it's nice to have the option when you need it.

[via TechnoBuzz]

In today's mobile Minute, we'll take a look at some of the latest news and software related to Windows Mobile devices.

RIM announces BlackBerry software for Windows Mobile

BlackBerry makers Research in Motion have announced plans to create a program that brings Blackberry software and services to devices running Windows Mobile 6.

The software will include email, phone, calendar, address book, tasks, memos, browser, instant messenger, and other applications developed to run on BlackBerries. Since the application will work like any other third-party Windows Mobile program, showing up on your screen as an icon you click to launch the suite, you'll be able to flip back and forth between the Windows Mobile calendar/email etc and the Blackberry suite.

The new program will enable push email on Windows Mobile devices (something you can already get for free through emoze), and allow companies to deploy software that will run either on BlackBerry or Windows Mobile devices. You'll also have a more input methods than on a traditional BlackBerry, with support for QWERTY keyboards, 5-way navigation buttons, or stylus support.

I hate crippleware. I hate nag-ware, and all kinds of related vermin from the netherworld. Among them, WinZip for years has bugged the snot out of users instead of just providing a good product for free like the cool kids. Sure, they have their reasons, but those reasons are why you don't hear about WinZip anymore. They are old news. Now you hear about 7-Zip, which I do like, even better than WinRAR, for my many unzipping needs (on my computer at least).

Today, at least for me, a new little app enters the fray, called ALZip. AL has got some serious options built into the app, which makes it a bunch more customizable, and I suppose some would even say better. The goodness meter doesn't stop there, it keeps going.
Compression is simple, the interface is clean and looks like my four-year-old would like it and could run it. LifeHacker's Download of the Day is a keeper. Go unzip your AL!

Sometimes you have files that are very important to you, and you need to make sure that you retain access to them, in the event of a catastrophe. While most people know and understand that they need to have a good backup process in place that they can trust, most people also don't have one. The reason most people don't have one is that it's a pain to do.

Here's an easy way to start backing up the important files in your life. Create a Gmail account for the purpose of storing your backed up files, then download and install Backup to Email.

Backup to Email is a little utility that adds a context menu option on your system called, appropriately, "Backup to Email". Choosing that menu option when right-clicking on a file will automatically zip up the file into 10 MB chunks (if the file is larger than 10 MB in the first place), and email it to a pre-determined email address. This is where that Gmail account you created comes in.

It doesn't get much simpler than that. Backup to Email also has some rudimentary functionality to deal with dropped connections; if a connection is dropped during a file transfer, it will re-attempt the transfer 100 times at two minute intervals.

Turns out it is possible to teach an old horse new tricks. It seems there's a Trojan horse going around that, if run, will put your files into an encrypted zip file and delete the originals. It also leaves a file called AUTO_ZIP_REPORT.TXT that contains instructions on getting your files back: send $300 ransom to an E-Gold account. The text file says, "If you really care about documents and information in encrypted files you can pay using electonic currency $300. Reporting to police about a case will not help you, they do not know password. Reporting somewhere about our E-Gold account will not help you to restore files. This is your only way to get yours files back." The Trojan is apparently not widespread, having been sent by e-mail to relatively few victimgs, and is not considered a major threat, though the virus' originator is using scores of E-Gold accounts to avoid shutdown.

[Via Digg]