i cannot figure out how to reformat my hd....i am having a virus error and also can't find out how to remove that either so i would rather reformat and start new...but do no know how....i could use useful step by step instructions if anyone has them for my comp....please help thanks

what OS, desktop, laptop?

You have two options with your Dell. You can use the Dell PC Restore which will reload/reset everything on your computer, to the day it was shipped to you. If you system shipped after July 15, 2004, you have a utility on the hard drive, called PC Restore by Symantec, for completely reinstalling the original hard drive image. Follow these instructions: 1. Power the computer on. 2. When the Dell screen appears press and hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard, press the F11 key, then release them both at the same time. The Dell PC Restore by Symantec window appears. NOTE: Only press the keys one time; if you press them more than once you will receive a keyboard error and will have to start the process over. 3. Click the Restore button. A caution message appears advising that all data will be lost. 4. Click the Confirm button. The progress window appears. When the restore is complete the message "The system recovery process was successful" appears. 5. Click the Finish button. The computer will restart. Or you can do a complete, new reinstall of Windows XP. You will need your Windows XP reinstall disk, and you'll have to load all your drivers after the new install. You can download those easily from the Dell website. Make sure you install the chipset driver first. Personally, I prefer the complete XP reinstall, because I didn't want all the bloated programs that Dell loads up on computers. In fact, I just did a complete new XP reinstall here on my Dimension E-510. Note >>> You will need to backup all your important files... photos...music files... all important documents, because whether you do the Dell PC Restore, or the complete new reinstall of Windows XP, you will wipe out your drive and all data will be lost. So make sure you backup first. There are some very nice "how to's" on the Dell user forum website. That was where I learned how to do my first XP reinstall too. Good luck....

Oops just saw your OS and PC info (my bad), you can download free Mfgtr hard drive tools from their websites if you know what kind of hard drive you have (Seagate - Seatools, Maxtor (acquired by Seagate) - PowerMax, Western Digital - DataLifeguard, Fujitsu - Fujitsu Drive Test FJDT, Hitachi/IBM - (Hitachi Drive Fitness (HDFT) to make bootable floppies to format/test your drive. Or boot to the XP CD (Boot Order, 1st Floppy, 2nd CD, 3rd HD, 4th USB etc, is set in BIOS) or Press F12 for boot menu at the Dell Logo Splash screen to manually select to boot to CD and to reformat with that CD. Note if you have a virus, I would make sure you scan your memory with anti-virus scanner to make sure you do not have a memory resident virus before you reload XP.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow... If by chance you need drivers for your E-510, here is the link for you. That is good advice above too... maybe you can save a lot of work by running complete virus and malware scans. Maybe you can figure out exactly what is giving you troubles, and thus save yourself from the need to reinstall XP.

I was going to suggest posting on the virus forum and see if someone like jabuck or another regular from there can help you get rid of the virus without having to format your system, but seeing that you need help reformating as it is, it might indeed be quicker to just format get it over with. Have you backed up your critical data? if you haven't, you better do that before reformatting the system, else they will be lost. Good luck!

McAfee Bootscan may work...(not sure if that supports NTFS or not) or Boot With a Norton 2005 - 07 AV CD (esp if you have NTFS partitions) and run Scan via CD. I usually copy a current set a Norton definitions down to the C drive first,http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html and use those defs in the Norton CD scan with NAVDX - http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR... Just another stupid saying...