I have that many system problems that I need to format my hdd and re-install windows on a clean slate. I have ntfs, so I cannot do what I used to do and load win 98 boot disk and format c:. My version of xp is upgrade. What do I have to do to format my drive? If I do a re-install of windows inside the GUI, will it wipe out existing installation including folders? Help, as I am totally confused!

What Rick said. Just go into CMOS and tell your PC to boot to CDROM as first option, save the CMOS settings, then put the WinXP cd in the drive, reboot, and when a screen comes up asking if you want to boot to the CD just press a key and WinXP setup will come up. After a few steps you will have an option of formatting the hard drive.

don't forget to backup all your personal documents and settings though before answering YES.
Many people here split the data and the OS but some do not, so be careful

Thanks for your help. I have done the format/reinstall, and so far, so good.

ok mine did not do that i tried to reinstall everything to do a clean slate, and i got no formatting option. when i get to a certain point it says choose which version of windows xp to use and there are 3 choices and all are xp, so is windows installed 3 times on my laptop or is it partitioning it self somehow and how do i just get to one single fresh loaded xp version on my hdd?

I think you installed a newer version of XP aside an older one, you did not get rid of the old install before putting the new one. If you have the time to do it properly, boot on the Windows XP install disk & delete the previous Windows before installing the new one.