Reformatting for dummies

As a novice who has gone through three cycles of reformatting before getting it right (for now, anyway), this is my step-by-step instructions for the next time I have to do this.

1. Backup all documents. (External hard drive will be handy. If you have a laptop hard drive (smaller) like this, you need to plug both the short wires into the USB ports, and the long one to the computer.)
2. Ensure that you have all your drivers, start-up discs, and license codes.
3. Stick the Windows XP disc into your CD-ROM.
4. Restart computer.
5. Before the operating system kicks in, hit the key that allows you to choose which device to boot from (mine is F8). Choose to boot from CD-ROM.
6. Follow instructions.
7. When you get to screen that asks you which drive you would like to install it in, delete all partitions. This means that all your data will be wiped out.
8. Follow more instructions, and eventually you will get into Windows again.
9. Turn on your firewall to your internet immediately.
10. Run Windows update, or ensure that you have the latest critical patch. (Please note that installing Windows XP SP2 may cause your external drive not to be recognised. Possibly not true because my comp is still not recognising my external hard drive even though I don't have Windows XP SP2 installed anymore.)
11. Re-install your programmes.
12. If you have more than one hard drive, you need to format and assign a drive to it. Right-Click `My Computer', `Manage', `Storage', `Disk Management'. Select the second hard drive and create a partition.
    

Theoretically, this is a simple process. Theoretically.