Tomorrow I am going to reinstall Windows XP for the first time in my life, and to compensate for my lack of experience, I have gathered information about every step of the way - so I shouldn't be in for any big surprises. However, I have one last question (it's probably a stupid one and I'm sorry for that, but I do want to be prepared).

One of those computer manuals that once came with my pc shows a screenie of XP asking towards the end of the installation process, "Do you want to set up Internet access now?" and the possible answers are "Yes, help me connect to the Internet" or "No, not at this time". What remains a bit unclear to me is if it just lets you choose the settings of your would-be connection or if it's expected that you actually connect your pc to the Internet too. And I want to wait with the actual connecting to the Internet until I've installed the firewall and antivirus first. So which option should I choose?

(I connect to the Internet via cable, if that's of any relevance.)

I always choose "no, not at this time". I believe connecting at that point (assuming connection is plugged in) is only to validate/activate your windows installation. It can be skipped and dealt with later after you installed firewall and such.

Aha, I'll choose no then too. Thanks a lot, MenthiX!