UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions from Windows or Linux, without requiring you to burn a CD. You can either let it download one of the many distributions supported out-of-the-box for you, or supply your own Linux .iso file if you've already downloaded one or your preferred distribution isn't on the list.
Problem:
Easily integrating your Linux host into a Windows environment ...
Solution:
This solution allows one to very easily navigate any number of windows/samba servers and shares with any file management application (and from the shell).
Swiss File Knife - the open source file tree processor
is a free multi function command line tool that belongs onto every usb stick. download from sourceforge. this package contains binaries, source and buildscripts for windows and linux. You may also download just the windows executable sfk.exe or the linux binary for Ubuntu or DSL. No installation, no registry entries, no DLL's - one exe handles all.