Hi I want to format a hard drive. It has been riddled with spyware and more than a few trojans worms and the like Though I've now managed to clean it up, i would preferably like to do a clean install and format the whole drive. However in Comp Managament the format option is not available When I try to format by right clicking on the drive in win explorer it doesn't allow me Anyone help with how to get a format done and do a fresh install Thanks ina dvance for your help Bryan

You didn't specify if this is the same partition that your OS is on or not. But since you said it was riddled by spyware, then I am going to make the assumption that it is. If that is the case - you can't do that! That would be asking Windows to delete itself - not possible. You need to use the WindowsXP install disk or (more likely in your case) the HP restore CD. Pop whichever one youhave into the CD-Rom drive and restart the computer. You will then go through the process to reinstall windows and have the option to reformat before doing so. Michael J

Thank you in advance for any insight.. I'm having a similair issue/desire as bryan here, but when i go to reformat using xp pro cd it won't let me delete the first partition so that i can clean out my hardrive. All it allows me to do is a/ create another partition to install windows onto, or try using 2 OS. When i go to delete the original partition <all the crap i don't want> it tells me i can't because there are temp files that are necessary to complete setup for xp pro. Again thank you for your time. Jeremy

Make sure you have your BIOS settings set not to enable "boot other device" in your drive boot sequence. That way the only device that you computer boots from is the XP cd and not the hard drive(s) as well...which allows it(or them) to be formatted.

Another way is to use good old fdisk (if you can boot from a Win98 floppy) to delete the non-dos partition & then use your XP disk to start from scratch. "I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."