OK, I need to wipe out my computer and start over. It has Windows Millennium on it and I hate it. I am also unable to get past MS Dos and into regular Dos to format the drive. Every time I try it aborts it…..

Help! Anyone know what I need to do here?

well...if you buy Windows 2000 or XP, you can install straight from the CD. However, in order to re-install Millenium...well, that's a whole different story.

Re-Installing Millenium (or installing 2000 or XP in your situation) would most likely (and what I recommend) fix the problem. You will have to fdisk the drive, destroying all partitions with fdisk. It is self-explanatory once you know what to do with the program. Don't forget to re-create the partition first. Allow the partition to span the entire drive.

If I were you, I would install 2000 or XP. Do a FRESH install, not an upgrade. You will still be able to run millenium (at least for games requiring millenium), provided you do a fresh install. However, don't allow setup to erase partitions. It typically won't prompt to do so (and will not do so without your permission first), but if it does, tell it to leave the partitions alone.

In any case involving the deletion of partitions and converting your hard disk's partition to NTFS, you really should back up important documents at least. You can always re-install the programs and their files needed for you to do your tasks, but you can never recover destroyed documents.

It may ask for you to convert your partition to NTFS, but don't do it unless you never want to run Millenium again. NTFS is more secure, but Millenium, 95, and 98 does not recognize NTFS partitions...only FAT and FAT32 partitions are recognized by 95, 98, and Millenium.

With 2000 and XP, you never have to worry about the boot sector getting overwritten. No virus can do this because 2000 and XP block all writing to the boot sector. I simply say [u:19ce771039]so solly[/u:19ce771039] to the viruses that like to overwrite boot sectors :)
Nevertheless, always use a virus scanner, even on 2000 and XP. Viruses can still do damage to files on your system (excluding system files, only updates from Microsoft may overwrite system files).

As said, if I were you, I would get Windows 2000. There is no regular version of Windows 2000, so get the professional version. I think it would really be better in the long run.

Get someone who has windows 98 to create you a windows 98 startup disk.. Using windows 98 go to the control panel goto add/remove programs and click "Create boot disk"... then put the disk in your machine, and make sure your settings in the BIOS (The thing you hit a key to adjust when the computer first starts) are set to boot from floppy.. Then format or whatever..

thank you for adding something I forgot to add to my post, JWB.

- KJM