Thanks so very much to everyone who's been helping me. Now that I've gotten Win XP Pro installed and am getting my partitioning all done, what's the next step? Do I need to put the motherboard cd in to install anything? Or do I just start loading my programs? What do I need to check to make sure I have the most up to date drivers? As you may have guessed this is my first time to install an operating system - have learned a lot and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks again to all.

If you have a motherboard CD then use it. Once you have all the necessary drivers installed from that, run Windows Update which will (obviously) update any of the drivers that need updating :-) I don't suffer from insanity, I embrace it.

If it is a new motherboard then it is most likely the CD has updates that you need to apply. In the main the motherboard CD has chipset drivers for the chipset employed on it. It may have drivers for any on-board features such a graphics, sound and Network Interface Card (NIC). It may also have other utilities. These should show in a selection menu which comes up on screen when you insert the CD. Your motherboard menu should have it all explained. It is best to apply the motherboard CD updates as required before going on to installing your programs. Manufacturers of hardware issue updates for their hardware as and when required. Depending on how old your hardware is there may or may not be such updates. You should be aware of the hardware in use in your system and the websites of the manufacturer. You should visit them periodically to check for updates. As a rule of thumb if your machine is working well without updates then it does not matter so much that you do not have the latest drivers. But if you are suffering problems then you can get the updates. Finally Windows XP has updates that are required. If your WinXP is the initial version then MS have issued service Pack 1 (WinXP SP1) which you need to apply. In addition there have been further security updates issued for XP by MS. These updates are available online via Windows Update. Again I would apply these before any program installs. You can visit my website (follow the Homepage link) and look up the procedure of how to get the MS updates locally onto your hard drive instead of applying them online. Finally MS is currently offering to post free updates CDs to anyone interested. If you wish to take this offer from MS then go here. I think I have said enough. ___________________________________________ ☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

All very good advice, I only have one thing to add. After you have windows installed, before you go online or connect to the internet make sure you have the XP firewall or some other firewall on. Even just trying to get to windows update to get the latest security patches and such you can catch the blaster virus or something simular. It sounds like you are having fun, the most fun I have with a computer is when I put it together and make it work.

Just did an upgrade for a friend yesterday on a ASUS MOBO. No CD. It was wonderful. No Nothing and it recognized XP and all the drivers except soundblaster 5.1. Had to reinstall.