Uninstalling Windows XP Home Edition

[Cheri]

Our home computer is so messed up, and after having tried
every known thing (to me) to fix it, I am considering
uninstalling Windows XP and reinstalling to start from
scratch. I checked the support page here and it says to
go under "Add/Remove Programs" and just click on Windows
XP to uninstall. My problem is... Windows XP does not
show up under my list of program under the "Add/Remove
Programs" option. Can anyone help me with how to
uninstall Windows XP and start squeaky clean? (Note:
I'm somewhat computer illiterate, so step-by-step
instructions would be most appreciated!)

Thank you for your time!

Cheri

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Cheri

If your PC came with XP already installed on it, then there will no option
in Add/Remove programs to uninstall it. What kind of XP CD have you got -
OEM, Retail or Recovery?

An OEM CD will only perform a 'Clean' install of XP in any case.
A Retail version can be used to either 'Repair' or 'Clean' install XP.
A Recovery disk will be dependant of the PC supplier.

 

[Guest]

ok, first put your XP disc into your cdrom. Then reboot
your computer. After the RAM count and when it detects
your hard rives it will say a the top of the screen "press
any key to boot from cdrom...." press any key. everything
else from there should be straight forward. Just make sure
that if it asks you to do a repair installation say no.

 

[Chris]

Our home computer is so messed up, and after having tried
every known thing (to me) to fix it, I am considering
uninstalling Windows XP and reinstalling to start from
scratch. I checked the support page here and it says to
go under "Add/Remove Programs" and just click on Windows
XP to uninstall. My problem is... Windows XP does not
show up under my list of program under the "Add/Remove
Programs" option. Can anyone help me with how to
uninstall Windows XP and start squeaky clean? (Note:
I'm somewhat computer illiterate, so step-by-step
instructions would be most appreciated!)

Thank you for your time!

Cheri

If your computer illiterate, my advice would be don't bother. There is a
lot of configuration involved in setting up a new OS correctly and its
not as simple as installing an app. What if you wipe your OS and don't
know how to put it back or don't have the correct drivers for all your
hardware? Then your looking at paying someone to fix this for you!

Try tapping F8 before the windows logo appears on boot up and you will
get a menu, select safe mode. If system restore is available try
restoring your system back to the way it was on a date before you
started experiencing problems.

If you still want to reinstall a fresh copy of your OS you will need to
know how to do the following:

1) configure your BIOS (the bit that appears before windows starts) to
boot from a CD-ROM or Floppy drive.
2) reformat your hard drive
3) boot from the windows CD/boot floppy and install the OS
4) install device drivers
5) configure the OS for your needs

this is a good place to start:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/honeycutt_02october07.mspx

Hope this helps,

Chris.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Our home computer is so messed up, and after having tried
every known thing (to me) to fix it, I am considering
uninstalling Windows XP and reinstalling to start from
scratch.

Your choice, but that's almost always the wrong thing to do. I
would advise describing your problems here before taking such a
drastic step. It's likely that someone can help you fix them.

I checked the support page here and it says to
go under "Add/Remove Programs" and just click on Windows
XP to uninstall. My problem is... Windows XP does not
show up under my list of program under the "Add/Remove
Programs" option.

No, that's *not* how to do it.

Can anyone help me with how to
uninstall Windows XP and start squeaky clean? (Note:
I'm somewhat computer illiterate, so step-by-step
instructions would be most appreciated!)

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean
installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when
prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html