Knoppix is a Linux distribution that can run from a CD/DVD (i.e. it doesn’t require installation on your harddisk). When starting a program it is loaded from the optical disc and decompressed into a RAM drive. The decompression is transparent and on-the-fly. It is also capable of understanding Windows file systems. To use it:

1. Download the latest Knoppix CD .iso file (approx 700MB). Note – The DVD version is much larger.
2. Burn the .iso to a CD
3. Boot the stricken machine from the Knoppix CD. You may need to change your system to BIOS to boot from the CD first.
4. Drag and drop data from the stricken machine to a USB harddisk or memory stick. Or copy to another machine using FTP from Knoppix. The Knoppix user interface is easy enough to use, even if you haven’t used Linux before.

Requirements to run Knoppix:

• Intel-compatible processor (i486 or later)
• 32 MB of RAM for text mode, at least 64 MB for graphics mode with LXDE (at least 128 MB of RAM is recommended to use the various office products)
• Bootable CD-ROM drive, or a boot floppy and standard CD-ROM (IDE/ATAPI or SCSI)
• Standard SVGA-compatible graphics card
• Serial or PS/2 standard mouse or IMPS/2-compatible USB-mouse