reinstalling computer software

Some of the files on my computer got accidentally deleted, and the computer won't start up. It starts loading like normal, but then the screen goes black.

Going to reinstall it, and have 2 discs, Reinstallatioin CD Windows XP Professional, including service pack 1a, and also a disc for reinstalling Dell Inspiron system software. What should I do with them?

thanks in advance

 

Please see this thread for instructions. The dell disc will have extras such as office, word perfect, or whatever software came bundled with the system.

 

ok thanks for that. am now in the process of the xp setup. It has got to a page though which says

'the following list shows the existing partitions and unpartioned space on this computer' The list has

-: partition1 [FAT] 94 mb (86mb free)
C: partition2 [NTFS] 73140 MB (61049 MB free)
unpartitioned space 8MB
E: Partition 3 [FAT32] 3075 MB 620 MB free

the options are to set up windows xp on the selected item, delete partitions, or create a partition in the unpartitioned space.
What should I do?

Thanks a lot
steve

 

on the instuctions http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html which was one of the links provided by chaslang when referring me to this section, it implies to delete all the existing partitions. Is this correct?

Also in the next step which of the following options is correct: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPpro4setup.jpg
thanks a lot.