Given the history of that XP installation (unknown and bootleg) and your
experience (slow, didn't work well), yes you want to reformat.  No telling
what kind of crapware is on that HDD.

Just boot the XP CD, select the existing partition, and you will be given an
option to format the partition.

The time spent to re-install everything will be worthwhile in the long run.

Carl

-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Mason
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 1:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] XP Pro re-install

I bought a used hard drive on ebay and when it arrived, it had XP Pro
already installed.  I decided to give it a try, but it was slow and didn't
work well with Outlook or Outlook express, so I ordered a CD with SP1 for
updating.  When I tried to load SP1, it said I had an illegal copy of
XP.  This really didn't surprise me, and since I didn't expect the drive to
have XP, I am not out anything.  I bought a legal copy of XP Pro, and my
question to the list is, can I do a reinstall over the top of my existing
copy or do I need to reformat?  I don't really want to reformat unless it
is necessary.  I haven't been able to figure out how to save all my
existing email messages, some of which are work related and fairly
important and I would have a fair number of applications to reinstall.  Any
advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dick Mason

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