Hi (first post) – Last week I bought a used Dell GX260 with P4, 2.0 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB hard drive and a R/W unit. I was told that it came with COA XP. No CDs came with the unit. I have been using an ancient eMachine 400 with W98SE using an external WD 80 GB hard drive. This system is beginning to fail (it freezes after a few hours and I am not experienced enough to use MemTest 86 or the equivalent to see what is wrong). It limps along however, but some of the files/programs seem to be corrupt. There is virtually no protection for the system.

The GX260 seems OK. Evidently it was not being used online so I picked up a cheap modem (currently I use dial up) and it went online just fine using a W98SE operating system. I have not used the unit to do anything online except to go to Google once. The seller indicated that I could download the XP system from Microsoft and that at some point, a telephone number would be provided – upon calling it, supposedly the installation of the XP system could then be completed – however, I am not sure where this download URL is located (help on this would be appreciated).

Also I notice that Service Pack 3 for XP is now available. I suppose that I should first download and install #1 and #2. These seem to be large files (for dial up down loading). It would be nice to clean up the 55GB on the 80GB hard drive before transferring any files to the GX260. There are a lot of programs available – e.g., Avira Antivirus – suggestions regarding this would be appreciated.

Microsoft recommends registering/validating the system with them. Is there some advantage in doing this?

Many thanks, Frank, akilo55