[fluffy]

I've been with xp in Portuguese for a long while now, and it was not possible to change the language, only through getting the english full version. Now I have it, I'm not sure how to load it on. Can I just put it straight in? Do I have to erase the existing first? Do I have to clean my computer of everything? Is it a simple process, or should I take it somewhere, for someone to do for me?

[Rik]

To get the best result, you should let the installation cd re-fprmat your hard drive. Doing this will remover absolutely EVERYTHING so you will need to backup everything you need to keep including any drivers that you cant find on the net.

[Grongle]

Fluffy, it's easy enough to do it, but it's one of those things that, if you need to ask the question at all, you might prefer to get some help.

As Rik says, so-called clean installs are preferred. In fact, I go one step further and do a "low level scan" which essentially cleans the disk as good as new.

But you don't have to. You can put in the CD and restart the computer, and just install the XP operating system by answering a few questions along the way. If you do that, not all the files will be wiped out. You could have data files in the very same partition, and, as long as they were out of the way of the XP files, they would still be there when you'd finished the job.

But go back and read what Rik said, because his reply is really the best advice. I'm just answering a few more details for your interest.

Oh, by the way—if you DON'T have anything very valuable on your computer, I recommend you doing the install yourself. It really is easy, and you'll feel good about it. Do it another hundred times or so, and you'll learn some neat tricks!

And one last detail: your computer needs to show you the option to boot from the CD. It should do that for a few seconds when you start or restart it with any bootable CD inserted. If it does not show you that option, you need to go into the BIOS and change a simple setting. In that case, ask here again. It is something else that is very easy to do—once you know how.

Have fun.

[ashaiba]

all XP come with english support installed.

In Service Pack 1 you have a program called muisetup.exe that allows you to install/remove enable/disable UI languages
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With SP2, I don't know how to change languages. never seen an option where you can. id just reinstall it. create an image of your hard drive so that when you reinstall it in English, you can load up your image and all your files will be back to where it was.