On Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:08:18 -0400, "glee"
wrote:

...and just to be clear, as a P.S. to my other reply, if you have an
actual Linux installation on the hard drive, in addition to Windows or
instead of Windows, some distros of LIve CD *may* use the existing swap
partiton of the installed Linux system. This is not the same as using
the Windows page file, which the Live CDs do *not* do.

In this discussion, we're not talking about a computer that has a Linux
installation on the hard dirve, though.... we are talking about systems
with Windows only. The hard drive is not mounted without specific input
from the user, when using the defaults of the Live CD.

IMHO, Bill's pretty much pi**ing into the wind with his claims until
he steps up and provides some actual technical information. A blinking
HD activity LED doesn't tell a convincing story.

How about something like, a complete set of file CRCs from before and
after running the live CD. Compare the CRCs to see which, if any,
files have changed. A second step could be a DIFF to see how the
affected file(s), if any, have changed.

I suggest doing this by booting a live CD twice, with CRC snapshots
taken before, after, and after, since booting Windows will absolutely
cause changes that will skew the test results. We could discuss the
finer points until everyone's satisfied that it's a valid test, but in
the meantime we've basically got the resident nut job making a claim
and not being able to back it up. It's a stalemate until someone steps
up and does some *actual* testing, rather than watching a flickering
LED.