Well, maybe I overestimated the computer you were running this on. Despite being on a CD knoppix is usually pretty zippy. though it gets slow when I have a bad disk. . . but in your case I think it is just your computer. . . . anyway. . .

If you have a faster computer laying around the house, you may as well just pop the CD in, it doesn't leave a trace.

If you want to solve this problem for good you can just go here:
http://bofh.be/clusterknoppix/knx-install.htm

this install knoppix on the computer, so you won;t have the slow cd rom bottle neck. . . HOWEVER THIS WILL LEAVE A TRACE, QUITE CERTAINLY AN IRREPARABLE ONE (depending on how your hardrive is partitioned curently). . . so if you decide to do this, do it on a non essential computer.

but just running from a CD? won't touch a thing. So even if you do find your windows hardrive, it mounts it by default in read only mode. Remember running from the cd is a virtual rubber room for the novice linux user. (just don't go out of your way to mount anything in 'write mode')

Regards,
Justin