I thought that I'd discovered a great way to surf the net without any danger. 

First, download Ubuntu or some other LIVE Linux ISO.  Burn the image to a CDR so you have a bootable Linux operating system on a CD.

Second enter the BIOS and set it to boot from the CD

Third while in the BIOS disable the hard drive

Now put the CD in the drive and boot.  It will boot up to Linux and you can surf the net with impunity because you are operating on CD that can't be written to and no access to your hard drive.

However after doing this I discovered that Linux does see the hard drive.  Crud.