Ultimate Boot CD

I am using OS Windows Vista. My computer decided it would love to stop working yesterday, I called Toshiba support and they seem to think my Windows is corrupted. So the solution is to wipe my computer clean. I need to get some files off of my computer but I have no idea how. I've tried doing the ubcd 4.11 and none of the programs will work. Is there another program or ubcd that has something that would help me transfer or copy files? I have a usb external hard drive to move files to, or a network computer, or a cd drive to burn onto a cd. I have no idea what to do or how to get it off of my computer and onto something else. If anyone has any suggestions please reply! Thanks!!

You can first try the safe mode of Vista: pressing F8 at startup (logo) so that it will present you a screen with many choices. In startup mode you can access external hard disk.

Other possibility is to move the hard disk to an external USB2 case, then copy the files from other computer.