reinstalling windows xp

[Chris]

i have a virus which won't let me run my antivirus
software. i have ran nortons online virus scanner aswell
as TrendMicro's Housecall virus canner and it did find a
virus called Backdoor.Optix.13. well i followed the
procedure to remove it and it failed to fix my problem.

if i reinstall windows xp, will it remove all of the
infected files when it reinstalls? thanks for any help.

 

[Roger Abell]

If you do an upgrade/repair install, do not expect your
problems to be cured. This type of install is intended to
preserve what is installed.
If you do an install, doing so from a fresh format on up
is the way to do a fresh install.

 

[Bruce Stout]

How do I do a fresh format when I install WinXP? The setup program did not
give me the option to install in another partition or to first format the
hard drive.

 

[Roger Abell]

If you boot from the CD it will. If you put the CD
in while the system is running it behaves differently.