I need to Format my COmputer. However Ive never done it before and im kinda worried. I need my computer to function and work and to be without it id be screwed. So what Id like to know is with WIndows XP how many things can go wrong and if those things do go wrong how do you fix them??

XP makes it pretty fool proof, since it's really good at detecting all kinds of hardware, most likely you shouldn't have any problems getting on line after to download any missing drivers (if any, unlikely).

One thing you might want to do though is have the computer un-connected from the net. If you're on dial-up modem don't worry about it, but unplug it from the cable modem or DSL router. Reason is, a virgin XP installation is wide open to lots of easy exploits and chances are it'll get infected within minutes.

Install it, configure the firewall, then plug it up and do the Windows Updates first.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx