dell query

[mattux]

hi there
i have a couple of questions trying to repair a dell dimension 4500
ive been given the pc to repair for my sister. it has windows xp home edition installed, the hard disk has 2 partitions, the first one is 32mb and eisa configuration, the second is ntfs and takes up the rest of the disk.

1)can i just start again removing all partitions, formatting and installing windows?

i have managed to install win next to the old win that wouldnt boot and it works ok but i cannot access the old folders to retrieve files that they want to try and salvage, which involves school work(quite important).
with xp pro i can take ownership of the whole drive and change permissions but with xphome i havent got that option.

2)is there a way to change permissions on the old windows files in xphome.

3)how can i set Administrator password in xphome

many thanks

matt

 

[mattux]

hi lord

the eisa one is the restore partitions i think its ctrl + f11 at boot

1 tes you can but yo will loose the above
2 do a search its been talked about before but i cannot remember

3 not sure

sorry, when you say restore partitions what will this do?
i dont want to mess their pc up on them
ive had no experience with dell

cheers

matt

 

[mattux]

thanks for the help guys.
i managed to do most things from safe mode, should have tried that in the first place.
my own pc hasnt had a problem for so long id forgotten how to do anything

cheers

matt