Trouble, need to reformat..

[bramma]

Well, this is the case. I built this computer about 8 months ago. Well, lately, I have neglected it, and it has become more and more bogged down. So, I am just going to reformat with my windows xp and do a clean install. However, I am encountering a problem. I have a lite on cdrw drive. It'll burn cd's, b ut it wont read any. Now, this has happened to me before. Usually, i can just use system restore and set it back, and my drive reads just fine. But, when I just tried to use system restore, it wont work. That leads me to believe that My computer is ridden with viruses, spyware, and other things. So, I just need some help. I need to know how I go about reformating. Here are my specs:

ABIT NF7-s
Athlon xp 2500
Sapphire Radeon 128 mb. video card
Kingston 512 mb ram.
Just the oem version of windows xp


How do i reformat? Do i insert my cd? and, with having trouble with my burner reading cd's and not being able to use system restore, what do I do? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[mechBgon]

First, download the full Service Pack 2 installer file and burn that to CD. Since it sounds like you have old or non-existent antivirus software, here is a 30-day free trial: http://www.kaspersky.com/trials. You can save that on the CD too, for later installation.

Now put your WindowsXP CD into the drive and restart the system. If your motherboard's set up to boot from CD-ROM, then you'll see Press any key to boot from CD... and hit the Enter key.

If your motherboard doesn't show that prompt, you need to enter the BIOS menu and set it to boot from CD-ROM before hard drive.

Once Windows Setup begins, wait until it offers you the option to Repair or Install, and choose "Install." It will show a list of the partitions on your hard drive after a couple minutes of progress. Delete them all, then exit Windows Setup by pressing the F3 key twice.

Next, make sure your network cable is unplugged from the computer. If you use wireless, turn off your access point.

Now begin Windows Setup a second time, and this time go through the installation routine. Use the NTFS file system if/when you see the option to choose between that and FAT32.

After installing WinXP, patch it with Service Pack 2 from the CD you burned earlier. This plugs many security holes and enables the Windows Firewall to prevent automagic worm infections. Also install your antivirus software.

Now that your computer has some defenses prepared, you can connect your network cable or turn on your wireless access point, and update your antivirus software. Afterwards, hit Windows Update for some patches, reboot, and go back one more time to see if there's any others.

Once the system's updated, install your motherboard driver package, reboot, then install your video-card drivers and reboot again. Wrap it up with whatever other drivers you need (sound, etc).

I have some ongoing prevention tips on this page that you might find useful too.

 

[mechBgon]

BTW since you mention what motherboard you've got, here's your mobo drivers:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_udp_winxp_5.10

You could put those on your CD too. And while you're at it, here's another item for you: Microsoft AntiSpyware beta.