Knoppix is the best Live CD available for a newbie.
It boots up fast and now I am writing this for everybody to see.
It can be mounted on a Flash drive.
Unlike old editions it can be mounted on the hard drive too.
If you decide to mount it on your hard drive make sure that you have saved all your important files!
It has virtual box and can mount other operating systems if one wishes.
The memory for the virtual box can be allocated depending on the system's availability. I am one who does not fancy this scenario. It is far better to dual boot rather than taxing the resources one has (RAM).
Well done boys and girls!