Installing Linux and BSD operating systems has never been easier. UNetbootin allows you to easily find and download various operating systems and other bootable programs as well as help you with their installation with a USB drive.
Installation & Requirements
The program is standalone and does not require any installation. Simply download the file and run it. It supports Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8 as well as Linux and Mac OS 10.5+. However, the bootable USBs can only run on Windows.
Interface
Even though there are only two options in the program and they are both presented in the main window, they are way more than enough for what the program offers. If you choose “Distribution”, you will be presented with a list of Linux/BSD based operating systems and their current versions. Choosing a distribution will give you a short description of it as well as the installation notes. It will also give you a link to the official websites where you can find more detailed information. If you cannot find a particular distribution it does not mean that the program does not support it. You will simply need to download it yourself and then load the ISO image to the program manually.
You can also choose through a variety of programs apart from all the different operating systems. When you have made your choice, simply choose the type of installation you want, either in a USB or a Hard disk drive. Click on the ok button and then the application will start downloading whatever you have chosen. Otherwise, you can load an ISO image from your computer that you have already downloaded.
Some of them, like Dr.Web AntiVirus can be installed in a bootable USB drive or as an ISO in your computer so that you can run them on systems ruined by malware and clean them up. This is an amazingly useful utility because you can create various “rescue” packages. There are extremely cheap USB drives in the market so that you can keep some as backup in case your system cannot even open because of the various security threats going around.
Pros
-No installation required
-Support for a wide array of operating systems
-A huge variety of Linux/BSD distributions as well as other programs that you can install on a bootable USB drive
-Very easy to use even for users that are inexperienced
-You can choose to erase your current operating system or simply dual boot
Cons
-None that I can find, the application works as fine as possible
Conclusion
If you are looking for the easiest and most convenient way to download and install a Linux/BSD operating system or you want to create a bootable rescue USB then UNetbootin will offer you exactly what you are looking for. With such a huge variety of supported operating systems and the ability to create a dual booting system all from one simple program I cannot find a single reason why it should not be used by everyone.
