As part of a survival toolkit, Damn Small Linux could be something of a saviour. Earlier this year, this writer used a previous release of the distribution to excise a couple of gigabytes of files from an otherwise-locked-down Vista installation, and while it didn't save the machine concerned from complete reinstall, it did rescue an awful lot of data. It did it with no fuss, utter simplicity and earned a lot of appreciation as a result.

Unsurprisingly, that's one of the key assets of Damn Small Linux, and version 4.4.10 continues the tradition. It weighs in at a 50MB ISO file that can be written directly to a disc or flash drive. Then when necessary, you simply boot off it and arrive at a Linux desktop in a matter of minutes.

Just because Damn Small Linux lives up to its name in file size, this doesn't mean that it's bereft of a few tools. A web browser, media playback software and some office and graphics tools are among the other inclusions, and naturally enough you can install it and use it as your main distro should you so choose.

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