System Restore vs Reformating

What's the difference between windows's system restore, and reformating your hard drive? I have a Dell xps 400 I want to reformat that didn't come with a recovery disc. I built this computer I'm on atm and bought an xp pro disc for it. Can I use my Product key on both systems?

 

System Restore takes your computer back to an earlier configuration without losing any data.
Reformat clears all the data, updates, programs, etc.
A product key can only be legally used on one system.

 

I'm betting that the dell has a sticker on the side of it with a windows XP product key on it. If it does then it is OK to use the windows CD you purchased to do the format and install, but when it comes time to enter the product key then enter the one on the side of the dell machine. Because that machine already has a licensed version on windows, you just lack the CD to install. I am positive that works for vista and I'm 90% sure it works for XP.

 

I did just that with a version of XP home I was given by someone. The hard drive was toast so I had to format the new drive but they either didn't have an xp cd or didn't give it to me. I knew they weren't using it because they bought a new computer with Vista on it so I got the same version of XP home (OEM in this case) installed it and put the key on that was on the case and no problems registering it at all. I had the key , was just missing the installation cd.

 

I found the sticker, but the disc I have is an OEM version of xp Pro, and the dell came with Media Center Edition, so the product key probably won't work.
Is there a way to "nuke" the computer without uninstalling the OS? I did the system restore to the farthest date back, but there's still alot of unwanted stuff on there that I dont want.

 

The disk won't work.
It's not hard to get rid of files and programs you don't want.
Look in Add/Remove programs to get rid of programs.
Look in Program files for folders corresponding to programs you've deleted.
Look in My Docs for files to delete.

 

You can request a replacement reinstallation disc here

Have you uninstalled the "stuff" you don't want in Copntrol Panel . . Ad/Remove Programs?

If you know anyone with a Dell MCE reinstallation disc, you can borrow it for the installation, but the replacment discs have been taking around 3 days to arrive.

Be sure to indicate clearly that you need the MCE disc . .

 

What unwanted stuff? If it is virus/spyware/adware related then pay a visit to the malware removal section of this website.

 

Now that I have this computer, all the other computer is used for is gaming on LAN when friends are over, so wiping it isn't really of great importance; I just kind of.....want to. The computer seems a lot more sluggish than when I bought it. The hard drive is also pretty small; only 70gb of available space, and I have completely used it all up. I might request the backup disc, but for now I'll just clean it up as best I can.

Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the link Simmpswr.

 

Cool . . .