Used computer

My son was given a used system and proceeded to delete everything on there that he wouldn't need. Everything is still running very slow though and something is blocking progress when I try to install our AVG security program. "add/delete" programs shows no security software to interfere so he would like to just "start over" by erasing everything on the harddrive and re-installing the Windows XP. I thought it was F8 or F2 to get to the proper menu, but neither worked for this system

There are a few ways to start this depending on the maker, and if this is a desktop (not a laptop) you may be in trouble unless you have a disk, they don't seem to have very good recovery options unless you created rescue disks, which of course you wouldn't as it's second hand, but tell us the make\model of the system and we can try and help get the ball rolling at least.

Hi 8210GUY, "FORCEFUL" is the name on the computer shell. This one has a "reset" button on the back. I have the Windows XP discs for his last computer - will these reload on the new one? This is a desktop computer

Hi, unfortunately that doesn't tell me much, I need a much more specific make\model to see what your dealing with, but your "reset button" on the back is not what you may think, if it's what I suspect then it is used to clear the CMOS after a bios flash and the like, mine has one, it's done to avoid people having to go inside they're system's to do the same thing. The disks may well be what you need, but again without knowing more I can't say for sure, you could try booting to the disk and see what options it gives you, if you see anything like restore to out of the box state then thats the one you need, but it will help to know where the restore files are, if they are on the disk then great, but if they are on a hidden partition then we need to be careful. Quick thought here, as you can load to the desktop, have you looked in the Start Programs list for any recovery entry (not to be confused with system restore) ? that is the best one if it's there, otherwise if you can get more info off the PC it would be a great help.

Sounds like a custom or home built system. If your copy of XP is already installed on another computer then it will not activate when you install it on this one. You can try it but unless you are very lucky, it's not going to activate. If the CDs are recovery CDs then they will include the device drivers for the olds system and it's quite probable this new computer will not boot successfully once they have been loaded. Try it though, the worst that can happen is it won't work, right?