formatting a hard drive

[moogman]

i do i format an hard drive? i have inherited a pc and want to put xp on it and start from scrach

[Potatoman]

You need to boot from the XP CD. It will then give you the option to format the drive before installation.

[dave m]

lets hope you have the XP disc coz if you buy one from pc world ther about 150 quid

[kwicky]

Before you think of buying xp remember the new version of vista is about to hit the shops.

[Potatoman]

kwicky has a good point - assuming you PC is powerful enough to run Vista (XP's replacement), i would wait for that. Its due end of January.