#1 has many answers, depending on excatly waht you want to
backup. For user files (*.DOC. *.JPG, etc), I recommend
XCOPY, run from a command prompt. XCOPY is an old DOS
routine, but XP comes with its own version. At the
command prompt, type XCOPY /? for more info. I
particularly like the /D option, which can be used to save
copies of only new files or files that have changed. This
saves a lot of time. other useoptions are /S /V /R.
For system files and many programs, XCOPY will not work.
You can try Ntbackup.exe, which comes with XP. It can
backup a few files or the whole PC. However, be careful.
Backingup is only half the game, you also need to be able
to recover files. Ntbackup seems to run from within XP,
so it is of little value if XP is not running to some
degree. Maybe someone else copuld tell you how to use it
from a bootdisk, or via a networked PC.
I have had excellent luck with Norton GHOST and Acronis
TrueImage. A word of caution, neither works 100% on
serial ATA drives, and both have issues with RAID drives.
But, both work fine on plain IDE drives. Of the two,
TrueImage is easier to use, but GHOST ulitmately has more
options. PowerQuest Drive Image is a third possibility.
#2, No you can not download a copy of XP. Microsoft has
gone to a lot of trouble to prevent anyone from using XP
on more than one computer (product activation). Being
able to download a copy is not something they would
allow. However, you can download a multi-floppy set of
startup disks for XP. These are useful to install XP on
machines without a bootable CD drive.
By the way, the lack of an XP CDROM is unfortunately a
common theme in packaged PCs. It saves cost. Not the
price of the CD, but the price of the full XP license.
You have what is a called an OEM license, which is more
limited han the one you could buy as a boxed set for about
$200.
However, maybe Dell gave you a restoration CD?. With it
you can "restore" the PC to the day you bought it, losing
all changes, personal files, extra programs, etc.
However, if after doing that restore the PC still does not
work, Dell might begin to consider that there is a
hardware problem, and maybe they will fix it, assuming
that the PC is still under warrantee. This is a common
ploy by PC makers to avoid spending time (time = $$)
daignosing software problems. A pity, just a few years
ago they would actually try to help the user. But, then
PCs were more expensive and profit margins were higher.
