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A little more explanation if you're curious what you're actually doing. On your computers motherboard (mainboard) there are all sorts of chips and switches and ports. One of those chips is the BIOS. It is the Basic Input-Output System, and is responsible for most of that flashing text you see when your computer boots up. Becuase this is stored permanently on your motherboard, there is very little you can do to "destroy" this. Its a safety net in case your Operating System fails. It will allow you to boot up and change settings on the motherboard, and provide a basic interface for input/output. This can even be done without a hard drive physically in the machine...
"Formatting" your computer means erasing and formatting the hard drive. The easiest way to do this (for Windows users) is to use the Windows CD provided with your computer. It has software that will allow you to erase your harddrive, partition it (divide it into little parts), and re-install the Operating System. So, the above steps are correct.. you must enter the BIOS and find a setting for "Boot Order" or similar, and make sure that it boots from the CD first. Past the BIOS, you need something to "boot" into, whether it be Windows or onto a standalone CD. By setting your CD-drive as the first device to check, it will boot from the CD before checking to boot from your harddrive, where Windows is installed. After doing that, you reboot and it checks the CD drive. The software on the CD tells the computer that it is a bootable device.
Now, to "format" your computer. The easiest way to do this is to remove all the partitions (unless there is a Dell Restore Partition, leave that)... and then format the drive with NTFS. NTFS is the file system that Windows XP and others use best. After it is formatted, things can be installed to it. Windows will install and you will be presented with a fresh install of Windows on an empty hard drive. From there, remember to re-install all your device drivers, antivirus, spyware blocker, and other software that you need like Firefox or AIM. Most importantly, remember to run Windows Update to at LEAST sp2, or you'll be reinfected with the same viruses/spyware that probably prompted this decision.
... can you tell I'm bored at work? :-D
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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel
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