My wife has a laptop which she uses mainly for watching bbc iplayer, surfing the net and watching videos. The hard drive has died, but we have been able to extend the life of the computer by booting into a live distibution via the CDROM drive. I figure that we can use a memory stick as storage.

Is there a distro that boots very quickly into the live environment, connects easily to the WLAN and doesn't need additional packages downloading for flashplayer to work, as this is a pain in the ass having to reinstall after every fresh boot?

She is used to Windows so the more intuitive the better.

Hi,
Try KNOPPIX, you can select many options for this LiveCD/DVD for a Laptop. Ever think about placing a SSD' in the laptop?

I'd suggest to go for linux mint. It has all the features included vlc player and all above.

Mint is a good suggestion. Also I recommend to create a "persistent live usb" (instead of a cd), then you can save your settings between sessions.

Another problem is that I can't access the BIOS, so cannot change boot order to make it boot using USB.

Wll you could install it on usb yet configure it as cdfs

Why don't you just replace the hard drive?

Cost is an issue at the moment, and to be honest we're not short of computers in the house, so it's not a priority. May replace it when we have some cash available.

Hi,
Why can you not access the 'BIOS'?

I don't know. That particular function key doesn't respond.