John wrote:
> I used the cd set to recover stuff, now the system continues to work
> slow and not work with software it use to work with. So now I feel
> that the only way to get this computer working is to re-install the
> system software. In doing so I have come to a window that lists the
> existing partitions on C:. It asks if I want to delete partition,
> install windows xp (if you select that it says that you cannot have
> two operating systems on the same partition, so I did not do that) or
> quit. Do I delete the Partition1 [ntfs] 38146 MB ,21953 mb free>?
> and what do I do with the unpartitioned space 8 mb?
I you wish to remove *everything* on the drive, then yes you delete the
partition. The 8Mb is reserved to allow the conversion of the disk to a
"dynamic disk", don't worry about it you cannot alter this.
How to install or upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941
Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
Before you do a complete nuke and reinstall have you tried a repair install?
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;315341
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Remember you need to have the product key and the relevant drivers for the
hardware in the machine.
If your machine is a proprietry OEM (e.g. Dell, HP, IBM etc.) the the
recovery disks should give you the option of restroring the machine to the
factory defaults.