Reinstalling windows xp

[Blazeix]

Now, I know this question has been asked before, and I searched the forums but couldn't find anything that related to my question. I have a Dell Optiplex GX240 that was running very slowly, and recently I realized that it had a few rootkits on it. I looked around the internet and the best way to remove them, it seems, is to format the harddrive and reinstall windows.

The problem is that when I put in the reinstallation cd that came with the computer, it isn't recognized on boot. The BIOS is properly configured, it just continues to boot to windows xp. I started the cd in Windows, and pressed the "reinstall windows" button, but I got the following error message:

"Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD."

Does this mean that if I want to reinstall windows I need to buy another Windows XP pro CD that is the most updated?

Dell Optiplex GX240
Windows XP SP2
512 Mb of ram
1.5 Ghz

[mahdiislam]

You could try to restore the original Windows XP System files by:
1. Inserting the Windows XP Installation CD
2. Cancelling the Autorun
3. Start > Run and type "sfc /scannow" (without quotation marks)

You could also try Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.