Boot from a live distro and install the live distro to a 1Gb+USB stick
Install a virtual machine such as VirtualBox/VMWare client. Use this to create a new virtual machine running a live cd. Install this live cd to disk
If you have a 4Gb+ USB stick, install Linux to this
Using the GUI, browse and install some software packages. You will need to set the proxy within Box Hill. Do this using the network settings of the package manager
Experiment with different boot options