Your choice, but as Ken and Shenan pointed out, that's not necessarily the
best solution. I had a personal client that called wanting me to look at why
they had to replace their modem just about every two to three weeks. Turns
out they were on cable attached via NIC, were in fact replacing their
internal modem then flatlining the system with an OEM image *without*
patching up and *without* changing any usage habits. When I sat down at the
machine it was so choked up with malware and crapware, including winsock
hijack, that the machine couldn't get out to the internet. Cleaning the
machine in place then holding a safe computing forum while watching the
clean up tools do their thing did wonders.

Back to your specific issue. If you want to flatline the system, that's
certainly an option. I do not recommend it since you'll immediately have to
download and install 70-80M of patches (if you're sitting at SP1) some of
which you'll need just to get online safely in order to patch unless you're
sitting behind a firewall (and yes, I stated that exactly the way I meant).

It's easier in a lot of ways, and generally safer with your data to clean in
place.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp|


"pdthorin" wrote in message
...
My computer has so much spy-ware on it I'd prefer just to reformat the
hard
drive and start fresh. The only problem is I bought my HP desktop with XP
already installed and I don't have a disc. Can I reformat my drive
without
getting rid of XP?