Malware nightmare - reinstall windows xp no cd driver...

Help!
My partner's netbook is infected with malware which is proving difficult to get rid of ....(and one is root virus according to Avast)
Problem is his netbook (lenovo S10) is French - XP (home) is in French...as is the keyboard...
I'm going through your read and run me first guide - but everything is slow going as my french isn't too good ...
It is only used for browsing the web -watching french tv and the like...no important files on there...
Wondering if it might not be better to reinstall Xp - except that it doesn't have a cd drive and we don't have the CD (the windows sticker on the bottom is just about legible though) - I do have my XP professional CD...
Any advice? Can it be done? (Is it legal?) Would it work?
Or is there a simple way to change the language to english?
(Partner could use an english language computer for what he does on it)

 

Hi
I'll carry on with the read & run me first ...
Is it really difficult to get Xp to be in English? He doesn't know anything about computers so it is a pain for me to do anything with it...even showing hidden folders/files involved a google translate! (now doing the same to mine so I know I am checking the right boxes!)

 

I don't think XP lets you change too much. No matter how you change the Keyboard and Regional settings, the dialog boxes will still be in French (no way to change that).

That netbook should have recovery options for reloading to factory defaults. If you hit the key that looks like circular arrow (sort of like a recycling symbol) when powering on do you get any recovery options?

 

If the OP gets a USB CD drive to hook up, (and obviously another PC) they could download (ie burn an image of) Kaspersky's Rescue Disc 10, a free bootable malware-cleanup tool....and it has language options

 

I've tried the regional and language settings and it won't let me do it...or I've tried checking one of the boxes and it asks for the installation cd...you can change the keyboard (useful if you plug an external one in) but it kepts reverting and you find you have typed nonsense (eg q instead of a)
Looks like the one key recovery thing won't work...googled it and apparently if someone has played with the hidden partition in the past it is useless ...it was second hand so it looks like someone has...

 

Done the read and run me first thing and will post in the right forum;just wanted to say thank you