Should I Wipe Out My Hard Drive?

Have had annoying Spyware/Virus problems that seem to recur. Am considering totally wiping out the C drive and reloading XP, drivers and my
personal document and photo files.

What's wrong with doing this? How difficult would it be?

Can Windows XP be simply reloaded from the (Gateway) Operating System disc? (Is there a "boot" program on the hard drive that's needed?)

Seems to me this may be easier than spending many, many hours researching spyware/virus problems in an attempt to clear them (have used various tools such as "cwshredder" and Spysweeper to clear up some problems without total success).

 

We geeks typically like to prevail over scumware but at the last resort a reload always does the trick.
The restore CD that comes with the gateway should completely wipe out and reload your system. ALL DATA WILL BE LOST DURING THIS PROCESS SO BACK UP WHAT YOU NEED FIRST!!!!!!!!!

It's typically as easy as putting the CD in the drive and booting the system. The cd is bootable and should give you a menu of options to choose from.

 

Thanks, Kodo. I haven't thrown in the towel yet as far as "prevailing over the scumware", but am wasting a lot of good fishing time trying to do so!