Did I reinstall Windows XP OS correctly?

Hello, Another professional from the malware/spyware forum was helping me with my infected desktop machine - We got as far as reinstalling my xp operating system because the spyware problem was too serious to fix. Anyway, I think I may have reinstalled the operating system on top of the old one. I thought I deleted all the partitions but I was trying to install a driver and I got a message that I didn't have enough space on my c: drive and I know I have plenty. Can anyone assist me with this issue? Thanks much.

Hi Sorry to hear of the problems with your machine following your reinstall of the Operating system.

If you have made a mistake then you will probably see a black screen on bootup asking you which operating system you want to use…Microsoft windows or Microsoft Windows
If you see this then yes its time to get out your Dell System and Driver disc s and start again…..
This time when you insert the disc you will need to do a "destructive install" delete the partition called c and if you are given the option format it…its important that you don't choose the R option!
Good luck
Regards
paws

Hi Paws, Thanks for your response. I was initially getting the black screen with the choice to select an OS, but I don't get that anymore. To be honest with you I don't know if I went back in and deleted all the partitions again or not. I've been doing battle with my desktop which has xp and my laptop which has vista, so I'm confused on what I've done and what I haven't. Things seem to be working smoothly at this point, but I wanted to know if there was a way I could make sure I'm not operating two systems? Is there any other way to check this besides relying on the black screen at bootup? Thanks again. N

Hi, Whenever you make system changes or repair a machine it's wise to create an "audit trail "in the form of a record of exactly what has been done, so that in the event of trouble it can be "undone"
In the workshop we do this as a matter of course (taking screen dumps where appropriate) and using a cheap digital camera for recording and cross referencing, wiring or screen photos that may be helpful to us, or more often the customer.

If you haven;t done this don't worry…….for a start go to :
1 My Computer and see if you have created an extra partition, do you appear to have an extra drive that wasn't there before?
2 Whilst in My Computer have a look in C:\ and see if you have an extra folder called Windows 0 or any other name that starts with Windows and then has a number, you should only have one copy of a folder and that should be C:\Windows…anything else with a similar name could indicate Windows has been installed twice on the same partition( not a good idea!)
Check the folder size…is it consistent with just one copy of Windows…….Have you "lost a large amount of disc capacity?…(This would be consistent with two copies of Windows)
3 Start>Run and type MSCONFIG and hit the enter key, Click on the boot.ini tab, it should look like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
4 Let us know if yours is different (my example is from XP pro)
5 As your machine is running well with no problems…..proceed with great caution…only alter things if it's necessary!
6 Further info from the link below.. will be helpful if you have two copies on the same partition…..but I would always start completely from scratch as a rule,(Wipe everything and start again…..if you do this check your back up/archive is 100% accurate up to date, reproducible and kept safe on removable media, however the article is authoritative and does work if you follow it carefully!
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#020
Good luck
Regards
paws

I will read your reply carefully and let you know what I find. Thank you for your help. N