Format and reinstall help

Hi, my computer is full of viruses which i have had alot of trouble trying to remove, seeing as i dont have anything of importance on my computer at the moment i thought i would format my hard drive and re install windows. So i put in the xp pro installation cd and began to reinstall, when i got to the part where it asks you what partition you want to install on i selected the partition which windows is currently installed on and tried to delete it (not sure if its actually called "deleting" but i wanted to clear it), thinking this would format my hard drive then re install windows, i then got a message saying that this partition contains temporary files requied to complete the setup so it can not be removed. Am i going about things the wrong way? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Boot from your XP Pro CD
then "inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..."
then some files and drivers will be loaded
then confirm that you want to install windows
the wizard will search for other windows installations you might have
once detected, you can choose to install on that partition, I think you
are required to press "C" or something
then you'll have 5 or 6 options about formatting, choose anyone but "Leave the current file system intact"
then you'll be asked to confirm the format process by pressing "F"
then a list of files to be copied will be created
copying completes
restart the computer
begin installation
you're done!

 

When badly infected, it is best to choose the same partition (if you only have one it will be C:, and then take the fully format option, to have a clean install. Otherwise as Amjad , more, or, less has said.

 

Thanks for your help guys, is it important that i boot from the cd when i do this, or can i start the installation from windows?

 

Yes,it's important to boot from CD for clean install.

 

Ok, thanks alot. Ive been having trouble getting it to boot from the cd, even though i have set the boot order in the bios to boot from cd first. Im going to fiddle around for a little bit and if im still having trouble doing it i might make another post in the hardware forum. Im just hoping the viruses havent done something so that i cant boot from cd.

 

Trouble booting from the CD is usually because you miss the screen prompt to press any key to boot from CD.
When you startup, as it posts , watch for the prompt with your finger on a key, - sometimes it is so quick that it is only up for a split second .