What 2 Do?

[Guest]

I have an IBM Aptiva thats about 10 years old that runs windows xp pro. I
just want to reinstall my entire computer from scratch as I am sure that I
have viruses, memory problems, and constant crashes. Here is the problem: I
am stuck in safe mode with networking, I don't have the original XP pro CD,
and I dont have the original cpu box or any software that came with the
computer. What can I do?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

-DB

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

You are pretty much toast at this point. You absolutely *MUST* have a fell
retail version of Windows XP in order to re-install it.

Your bigger issue is that you state you have viruses. You should not even
attempt to get your computer up and running until you are prepared for
defense...a good firewall (either a NAT router or a good software firewall
such as Norton Personal Firewall; do not use the firewall that ships with
Windows SP2). If you do not do what is required to secure your computer and
protect it, you are not only a threat to yourself, but to anyone on the
internet, as your machine becomes infected it will search for and infect
other machines.

Honestly, the Aptiva was a good machine in its' day, but is on the extreme
low end of what is necessary to run Windows XP Pro. you would be much
better off buying even an inexpensive modern computer...even a $300 computer
would give you better performance than a 10 year old computer. If the
computer is indeed 10 years old, it would not even be worth the price of
buying a Windows XP Pro disc to install on it.

Bobby