i actualy just posted something up here that most likely doesn't fit at all... it had a long list that was most likely meaningless... so i'll ask a better question...

like i said in the other post... i just reformatted... and know i need to install drivers... really i have no clue what im doing... is there any easy way to get everything i need so i can finaly start using my computer? i want it to be fully set up before i do anything else with it

What 'other post'?

So... you're just thinking of drivers now, *after* formatting?

It's a Dell - if it's all standard from the manufacturer, then go to the Dell site

I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter

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did that... got a huge list of what i was told was mostly pointless stuff becuase it doesn't give you a list of what you need... it give you a list of everything you can download onto it... which doesn't help if you don't know what you need... which i don't...

and no im not simply thinking of drivers now... i would have thought about them before but i didn't have time to learn up about them before the semester began...

i don't have the original disks the computer came with... well i do... by my family threw all the computers disks together into one pile and now its impossible to figure out wich goes to what computer... that and much of the pile is missing as well...

and when your computer doesn't turn on anymore... you don't have much choice but to reformat or get a new one... and im not rich... so quit picking on me about it.

Device Manager states what is missing, though most graphics card drivers will need an update anyway.

XP actually has a very good UPDATER sevice, though you will need to download SP2 and subsequent updates as well first.

As to other software, well you actually install only what you have a need for..

No one is picking but trillion of posts on this forum cover the same topic. If you need to identify hardware try:

http://www.hwinfo.com

Or you can go to http://driveragent.com and have them scan your computer for the drivers you'll need. Either take that list and search for the drivers yourself or pay 29.99 and download the drivers directly from their site. There is also http://windrivers.com where you can buy into their driver base for 4.99 per day.

I would suggest that you identify all of your hardward first. But that's just me...I'm an untrusting soul.

Either way...good luck to you!