Beginner really needs help

[cobb]

Wow I've been looking for a lead. I'll give this a shot too. Ok I am wondering how to play burned games. I've read about writing them to a file. Then burning them onto a CD. Seems simple enough. Please ellaborate. And the patches. Also I've d/l'd a file to burn for a boot disk. Turned out to be a waste of time. So where do I begin.
Any tutorials? Recommend any programs to burn or read with?
Do I need a mod chip? Seems I've gotten in here too late in the game to be answered such a simple question. (BIG SIGH) Later on people.