windows xp repair/reinstall,

Is it the same laptop mentioned in this thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-performance/extremely-slow-reboot/984cdb81-f48c-4a9c-aff8-79934940cef5

when using a reinstallation disk as compared with an installation disk what is it that makes one different from the other with regards to using either for repair or reinstall?

Some of the information in your post I did not understand.  What did you mean by tied to the bios?  And what did you be by pre-activated?  What does activating windows mean?

If I use the reinstallation disk for reinstallation then at a later time if the operating system need to be repaired is that possible with the reinstallation CD?

If I have the option to install the operating system using an installation cd will I then not have more options in case a later repair is needed?

Sometime in 2012 Microsoft will have windows 8.  If there is a small chance that this computer which is 1.6 ghz, 2 mb ram, 256 video ram can use windows 8 I would then consider another reinstallation.   Otherwise I will have used either a dell reinstallation cd which has windows xp home sp2 or a new windows xp professional sp2 depending on which gives the most flexability or options for any possible future operating system repairs. 

I had bought my dell inspiron 9400 laptop computer in 2005 and had the hard drive replaced in 2007.  When the hard drive was replaced under extended warantee dell sent to me another set of installation disks.  So I no long can tell which is the old and which is the new on some of the disks.  I'll list all the disks I have and their contents. 

1. Application already installed on your computer:  for reinstalling dell tools system software:

contents: 

a)antivirus software

b)support software

c)multimedia software

d)internet software

2. drivers and utilities already installed on your computer for reinstalling dell inspiron computer software

contents:

a)device drivers

b)diagnostics and utilities

3. application already installed on your computer for reinstalling sonic mydvd 5.3 le and recordnow 7.3 le software
4. application already installed on your computer for reinstalling cyberlink powerdvd software

contents:

applications

5. application already installed on your computer for reinstalling cyberlink powerdvd 5.5 software
6. drivers and utilities already installed on your computer for reinstalling dell inspiron and xps system software

contents:

a) device drivers

b) diagnostics and utilities

7. operating system already installed on your computer reinstallation cd microsoft windows xp home edition service pack 2
8. application already installed on your computer for reinstalling dell mediadirect 3
9. microsoft works 8.5
10. roxio creator le installer
11. digital media plus mydvd plus installer
12. roxio creator mydvd combo le installer

The above 12 disks are what I have for the reinstallation and some are either duplicates or updates.  I do not want to install the McAfee antivirus and I am not sure whether it will be automatically installed or whether it is an option.  I would like to reinstall MSE.  I may need to install the McAfe and then uninstall.  If i have to install Mcafee then the add remove programs failed to uninstall all of the antivirus software and I will then need to run the special removal tool again.  Is this something I can download now onto the external hard drive and use when needed or must I have a downloaded browser and an internet connection to get and properly use this antivirus software removal tool.

P.A. Bear indicated that with the combined issues that i am having that I have malware.  This is in spite of the numerous malware scans whether norton, trend micro, hijackthis, kapersky etc.  There was a period of time in which i did not actively update the antivirus definitions and this convinced him that this must be a malware problem.  So it seems sensible to replace the operating system and just make sure all the bases are covered.

At the same time I would like to understand if there is a way to determine if corrupted files are the problems and if there is no detected malware by numerous scans whether corrupted files can be fixed.  That is does windows xp give you the option to run a repair with either the reinstallation disk or a brand new installation disk?  If you have no detected malware and then perform a repair and the system appears to work normally again is the problem that the malware still has altered the registry and this is missed by the repair tool?  So it is essentially an incomplete repair?  Is that the reason for always doing a complete reinstall or is it something else?

i really have not read enough about the process and must spend the time to read what was in the prior threads.  Based on what I know as of this moment I would make these steps and i bet there are lots of errors.  But here goes anyway. Please correct me anywhere I get the steps out of order, make a mistake or miss a step.

1. back up all files to an external hard drive.  Currently I am backing up my documents and desktop but I will need to learn how to backup files of contacts within microsoft outlook, aol etc
2. run a malware scan on the external hard drive.  This has already been done with MS and malwarebytes.  These are potentially malware contaminated files but since they are not the operating system files and since they passed the malware scans they are safe to reinstall?
3. go to control panel > add remove programs > uninstall programs one by one so that i will be able to install them on a computer with the same or different operating sytem (office 2003 etc)
4. insert the reinstallation (#7 of the disks listed above) or installation optical disk ( I may get a windows xp professional sp2 operating system disk) into the optical drive and turn the computer off
5. upon reboot press f8 with the dell computer and boot from the cd rom?
6. this cd will then format the hard drive and install the operating system on the hard drive
7. I will not be connected to the internet so i do not need the firewall or antivirus yet.
8. insert the drivers cd  (choose between #2 or #6 of the disks listed above)
9. open control panel> security center> turn on windows firewall
10. insert the dell tools system software cd to be able to connect to the internet (disk # 1 of the disks listed above)
11. somehow get windows instead of intel software to set up wireless?  somehow connect to the internet?
12. will there be a prompt to perform windows updates? or will I now do this manually?  Will one of the windows updates convert xp sp2 into xp sp3?  Will there be numerous reboots with numerous updates.  This is likely to take one or more hours?
13. when will I have a browser to download and install MSE (will IE be installed with the windows xp sp2 operating system so that I can open the browser to get to MSE, or will IE be part of the windows updates?)
14. go to suppot.dell.com and download updated drivers
15. use copy and paste to move files from the external hard drive to the my documents section of the  internal hard drive?
16. install office 2003 and other programs
17. download browsers (mozilla, chrome, safari etc) 

When I was having the problems I checked the hardware on my computer by booting and pressing the f12 key.  This opened dell diagnostics and all of the hardware passed.  It skipped one step and that was flashing the bios.  I have a dead battery and it indicated that it only can flash the bios with battery power.  If flashing a bios is a part of the windows installation process then It would fail at that point as I will only have electrical power.  I hope that this is not a part of the reinstall process.  If it is then I would need to get a battery before I replace the operating system.

I have not set up microsoft outlook since 5 years ago and no longer remember how to do that.  But I anticipate I will need to get isp codes or use smtp or something like that? I'll have to google search for the aol configuration too. 

Using wifi and speed test.net my download speed is 1.45 Mbpsand upload speed 0.36 Mbps.  With this speed in mind approximately how long does it take for the operating system reinstallation and how long is it expected to take for downloads/installations including reboots of all of the windows updates?

This is for a sp2 download http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=28  Do I need to download it first or instead go directly to http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=24 and download sp3.  How do I download now and them get them to the proper place on my internal drive after the operating system installation.  Is it somehow a simple copy and paste somewhere or does the operating system look and find it on the external hard drive to place the files in the right place? The download options are run, save and cancel.  If i click on save now can it go to the extrnal hard drive for use later?

 I am guessing that this is a lot diffrent than the word, excel, powerpoint, adobe files etc which is a copy and paste to my documents?  And the same for the drivers,  the updated drivers could be downloaded somehow to the external drive and then somehow go to the right place after operating system installation?  How do i find each driver that is old to make sure it seeks a new driver that is on the external drive?  Where are all the drivers populated to go through the process? Do I somehow skip this step by not installing the drivers on the dll cd and somehow install drivers from the external drive the first time.  How do I do this?

First of all, the Dell Windows XP Reinstallation CD is an installation CD! The only difference is it's a branded OEM CD and they just like to use the word "reinstallation." I guess they figure that since they are the ones who install XP at the factory, if a Dell purchaser will ever use that disk, then by definition, he or she will be reinstalling XP.

What's nice about the Dell XP CD is that it is tied to the BIOS and XP is pre-activated. There is never a need to activate Windows since it's already (and perpetually) activated.

If your Dell XP CD is at the SP2 level, then you will need to install SP3 and then all the other post-SP3 security updates. PA Bear already provided good instructions in one of the other threads you began. Here is the link he provided again:

http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=44636

You should definitely have everything you need to successfully reinstall Windows (and upgrade it) saved to your external hard drive first, including your SP3 standalone executable, IE8 installation file, antivirus installation file, all your drivers, etc. Make sure you have everything handy before you format your drive!!!!

You are making things more confusing about using the word Repair. Repairing WIndows through the Recovery Console or running a Repair Install of XP ain't gonna get rid of malware. If your goal is to be 100% confident you are malware-free, then a Clean Install is your ONLY option.

By all means, copy your data to an external drive. Then copy it back whenever you'd like. Backing up "program files" like those belonging to Microsoft Office won't work. You will need to reinstall all your programs. As far as saved AOL e-mails, that is not a Windows question so I can't help you with that. You can Google for more information or post to an AOL user forum.

As far as the data you do want to save, only you know the answer to this. Yes, most will likely be in your My Documents folder, but you may have saved files to any old place on your hard drive. Just go through every folder and see what you want to save. If you're not sure, copy every single file you have!

The computer I am using has a slow boot of approximately 7 minutes after installing MSE which added approximately 1.5 minutes to the boot per the information in Soluto.

I have scanned in full mode using MSE for 15 to 21 hours several times and it found no malware.  I scanned in full mode using malwarebytes it found no malware.  I also used Hijackthis and Kapersky TDDSKiller and it found no malware.  Others were used too.

Although no malware was found per the other thread it would be safer to go through the repair/reinstallation as though it is contaminated.

I have a reinstallation cd for windows xp from Dell and anticipate getting a windows installation cd.  I was told this would provide more flexability for the installation but I do not understand what this means yet.

Each web site that I have visited adds another precaution or another pitfall and it appears to me that I need to learn a lot more before I get started so that I can have a working system and the shortest amount of downtime.

I had found a video tutorial by pc world (http://www.pcworld.com/article/157673/how_to_reinstall_windows_xp.html ) with apprximately 200 recommend and 100 did not recommend so if you know a better video tutorial that would be great.

I have uninstalled many programs and reinstalled them and they work better with a reinstall.  This may be the same thing with the operating system.  This may be corrupted software as opposed to malware.  In any case please let me know the steps as though it is a malware issue.

In viewing another web site it reports that I should use add remove programs to uninstall my programs one by one for licensing issues to get the uninstall registered on the server web site?  Please explain for windows or office or any other programs.  Each web site has something else to watch out for and this step was not mentionned on many of the other web sites. 

Please indicated the steps and pitfalls and fail safe methods as per the first entry.

Thank you