Reformatting/Reinstalling My Desktop

Ive been wanting to do it for a while, but today I finally bought a 1 terabyte external hard drive. My first act with it is to back up everything from my desktop computer. Its a fairly old machine, running Windows XP Home Edition. Over its lifetime, Ive seen its speed decline drastically. Now, those of you who keep up with my work or know me personally know I am not a noob with computers. Having said that, Ive tried all the tricks up both my sleeves to get it running faster than the painful speed its currently at. Nothing has worked. So, Ive decided its about time to reformat, reinstall, and start fresh. Its a big step, but hey, Ive got a whole Summer of boredom I need to kill. I might as well do something productive.

The fun begins with my lack of Windows XP installation CDs and keys. Luckily, I know how to retrieve keys of already installed distros with the help of Magical Jelly Bean. The CDs, however, are semi-new territory to me. Ive been informed that theres a way to create setup cds from the otherwise meaningless i386 folder found on a majority of computers.

Ill be posting my progress as I go, and explaining what Ive done each step of the way, as Im sure there is some poor, lost soul out there in the same predicament Im in. All progressive posts for this project will be titled "Starting Fresh" for ease of access.