Removing and Reinstalling Windows XP

[Bill]

I am having problems with Windows XP that I can't
correct. I would like to remove Windows XP and reinstall
it. This version of Windows XP is not an upgrade. It is
the OEM reinstallation version of Windows XP. The disk
doesn't have the new install option. It just reloads
Windows XP on the hard drive again. I want to reformat
the hard drive to make sure that I have a clean start.

I have tried to reformat the hard drive to be able to
reinstall Windows but can't find a way to reformat the
hard drive.

I tried booting off an old version of Windows 98 but that
didn't work either.

Any suggestions?

 

[SteveL]

Before you go to all of this trouble, have you checked for
viruses and spyware? have you ran a registry cleaner
http://www.iamnotageek.com/a/138-p1.php
you can get an fdisk utility at this site www.bootdisk.com

 

[Guest]

You boot to the reinstallation cd and reformat. Full instructions here:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp You have to make
sure your cd drive is first in the boot order.

 

[Guest]

I have a gateway computer and did a reinstall of everything (XP Home).
Gateway told me that in order to actually get a new "Clean" install you first
have to write 0s to the hard drive. This took a while but they said if you
dont write 0s (zeros) to the hard drive you are just putting a good copy over
a bad one. I dont know if this is true but I did it and everything seems to
be working great. However, I dont recall how this is done. If anybody knows I
would love to copy the step by step instructions for doing this just in case
it's needed again.