Formating hard drive with xpYour computer must be set to boot from a CD. Check in Setup. To access
that, when the computer begins to boot up, press Del or Esc. Your
manual should tell you how that works. In Setup, re-arrange the boot
sequence to make the CD drive first, if necessary. When you exit Setup,
the computer will reboot.
Put the Windows XP disc in the CD or DVD drive. Turn on the computer.
When you see a message to press any key to boot from the CD, press
Enter. Windows Setup will start. Let it load its files.
When it finishes, you'll get three choices. Press Enter to set up
Windows. Accept the agreement by pressing F8. Then, press Esc to
continue installation without repairing XP.
On the next window, select the partition you want to format. Press D to
delete it. Windows will next ask you if you really, really want to
delete the partition. Press Enter. Once again, you'll be given a
choice. Press L to delete the doggone partition!
Next, press Enter to create a partition. (If you want to create more
than one partition, press C and follow the instructions.) Choose
"Format the partition using the NTFS file system."
Once the format is completed, Windows will reinstall files, then
reboot. When it does so, DO NOT choose to boot from the CD. From then
on, it's pretty automatic.
When Windows XP is reinstalled, call your Internet service provider to
get your Web connection working.
Before going online, read this article called "6 steps for
securing your brand-new PC." It's here:
http://tinyurl.com/4whvm
Reinstall your programs and your personal files. And that's it!