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I have recently purchased a computer from a guy on Craig's List. There are all kinds of junk on it. I have the sticker for Windows XP on the bottom of the laptop but no XP disk. Will it be ok if I will wipe everything out without having the disk? Thanks.
I think that the laptop might have a recovert partition? Can you tell us the make and model numbr of the laptop and might be someone reading this will be able to help you out, incase if had similar issues like yours.
Have you checked whether it has recovery partition? You can try to format everything but unless you have an installation disk or recovery media yu will end up with a door stop.
Your laptop might have came with a Recovery CD. That CD might be having value, its too bad you didnt get it when you purchased the used laptop. You can try to contact the laptop's manufacturer and they might be able to get you one for a nominal fees. Otherwise you can get some help from a website called - restoredisks.com
I think the best way is to use an actual XP installation CD, which can also be used for repair installs and as the basis for a newer slipstreamed installation CD. Even better is to image the hard drive once the latest SP and subequent security patches are installed, along with all the programs.