with a linux live CD you don't have to 'change to linux', just boot from the CD, use it to change the filenames on your hard drive, then take the CD out and restart back into Windows, if you wanna try it then you can get a live CD here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download have you tried renaming the file from the command line? Start > Run > CMD > OK > REN really_long_filename short_filename
edit:
I should have said, the filename in command prompt will display in '8.3 format' for DOS compatibility, making it easier to edit, if you open command prompt and change to the directory with the files in, then do a 'dir', you'll see the filenames will look different to how they look in Windows Explorer, for instance 'thisisaverylongfilename.txt' will show as 'THISIS~1.TXT', so to rename it just type 'ren THISIS~1.TXT new_filename.txt'