This was prompted by the discussion on protecting yourself from various online threats, but it has applications outside of that. Want to avoid virus infections completely, boot into a computer that is already infected and inoperable, do repair work on a machine where the OS has been rendered useless, hack into a friends password protected computer, or terrorize the display computers at Best Buy? A boot CD/DVD will let you do all of this, and it’s completely free.
The concept is pretty easy to grasp. Instead of booting into the operating system loaded on the hard drive, you are booting into an operating system burned onto a CD or DVD. Since nothing can be written to the CD and it can’t be altered in any way you are free from virtually all malicious software. The downside to this is that you obviously can’t install anything once you are live, and some functionality is limited. The features and software on your disk are controlled by you. But a basic boot CD will give you an operating system, the ability to access the hard drive and files of the machine you are on, and an internet browser.
There are several different versions out there, but in my time working in IT I’ve found Knoppix is by far the best. It is compatible with most hardware out there, meaning it should auto detect all your devices just fine. I’ve repaired innumerable devices over the years with it. Knoppix is Linux. While the mention of Linux will make a lot of non techies cringe with fear, this distro is extremely easy to use. Simply download the software from the link, burn it to a CD as an image (file extension should be .iso), put it in your disk reader/burner, and when you turn your computer on tell it to boot to CD. If you don’t know how to configure where your computer boots from, hit f8 or f12 (depends on your PC) and your boot options will show up.
http://www.knopper.net/...
You can also use a USB flash drive, however since those devices can be written to, it is not as secure. It’s also important to note that using a live CD will not hide the items that identify your computer (mac address and IP address) so the world can still who you are. There are ways to spoof both a mac and an IP address though as well as anonymize your computer.