Re: PC help!
Use the recovery CD that came with a machine. But this will load all the junk you had when you first got the machine.
If you don't want to go that route, put in the OS CD and restart the machine and read through the wizard. You may have to change the boot sequence in BIOS to allow booting from CD first. If you are installing XP, there is an option to delete the main partition. Use that option to later be prompted with an option to format the hard drive. After reinstalling the OS, you may have issues with your hardware getting recognized (printers, video card, scanners, netowrk card, sound card, modem etc,) and you may need additional CDs/installation disks (containing hardware drivers) that came with each piece of the hardwarre. You may need to download the hardware drivers if you don't have the CDs.