I need to do a complete system restore

[LightbulbSun]

I need my computer to be restored to the way it was when I first bought it. I have a Dell with Windows XP on it, and I've already tried the system restore where it goes back to settings on a specific date, but that didn't help the situation. I can't even get on the Internet now. How do you run the program where it restores your whole computer back to the way it was from day 1?

 

[PerennialII]

I think this pretty much sums up your options:

http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Windows/How_To_Repair_XP_and_Avoid_a_Full_Reinstall.html

(got http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 & http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm stored as well on this topic) ... I'd backup everything before going beyond system restore not to loose anything. Dell PCs ship with the XP installation disk so you can do a clean install if need to (well you'll be needing it anyways if you follow typical repair steps).