factory settings

Hi ... Yes you will lose everything unless you make a
copy on disks or floppies

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools
necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this
procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your
peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and
keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed,
physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before
proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the
customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then
reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first
bootable device".

=== Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and
reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow
the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to
delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition,
then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install
Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. == Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn
on XP's Firewall.
== http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows
Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and
visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download
and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as
video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation
difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During
Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?
scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

Note: If you are unable to activate Windows XP via the
internet,
then select the option to "activate by
telephone".