Q: How do you format a hard drive, what precautions do you need to take
A: Precautions: - Make sure you backup any important files - Make sure you have a valid and legit CD Key Steps: - Pop in your Vista/XP CD. - Restart your computer & go into BIOS. To go into BIOS, press F1, F2 or Delete. It varries from motherboard vendors. - After you've got into the BIOS, go to a section called "Boot" or something similar. - Look for something called "Boot Sequence or Boot Order" or something along those lines. - After that, save & exit. - A black screen with white text saying "Press any key to boot from CD.." (XP) or "Preparing Windows files.." or something like that (Vista) The rest is pretty much self explanatory and it shows you a bunch of options.