Shoutbox

to change XP product Key

Editing the registry
Begin by opening the Registry Editor and navigating to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents

In the right pane, right-click the ODBETimer binary value and select Modify. Change at least one character of this value to either a number from 0 to 9 or to a letter from A to F, then click OK and close the Registry Editor. This renders the current product key invalid and deactivates Windows.

Now, it’s time to reactivate Windows using your new product key. Click Start | Run and enter the command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe /a

where %systemroot% is your Windows directory. In many cases, this command will look like:
C:\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

At this point, Windows will launch the Product Activation Wizard.

Select the option to telephone a Microsoft customer service representative to activate Windows, and click Next. Now, select the Change Product Key option and enter your new product key. Finally, click Update and close the window. If Windows returns you to the previous screen, just select the Remind Me Later option. When the wizard is finished, reboot the system.

When Windows reboots, your next step will depend on which Windows XP version you are using. If you have XP Home or Professional, you’ll be prompted to reactivate your copy of Windows through the normal activation process. If you have XP Corporate, no activation is required and your machine should have a valid product ID. You can verify this by running the %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a command again. When the wizard loads this time, you should see a message indicating that your copy of Windows has already been activated.


Enjoy and Goodluck

File System

NTFS is best use, fat32 has no point anymore when it comes to XP. Some XP disks don't even give you the option to pick ntfs or fat32 anymore.

If you format you will surely lose all your data. simple as. unless you have 2 hard drives or your hard drive is partitioned.

Example you have a C:\ drive and i dunno an E:\ drive. if you format C:\ drive then the E:\ will still hold all files/data that was stored on it.

I have 2 harddrives.

fist 500GB drive is partitioned as 2.  C:\ holds 100GB of information and is used for the operating system(Windows XP, but im currently running vista x64)

the 2nd partition is E:\ that holds 400GB(not exactly 400GB bit less) i store movies,music & install files for games & software and sutff there.

now my 2nd hard drive holds 320GB and is my D:\ Drive. Which holds my downloaded files.

So if i format C:\ drive. i keep all my installation files, all my movies, music n downloaded content because its stored on diff drive/partition from my operating system.

BUT do note all installed programs will be removed or not function. and you will be required to reinstall them again.