Need help putting a Validated Copy of windows on this PC.

[Jason R]

Hi my friend gave me this tower. My old one fell out of the truck when i was moving. I was fairly upset. Well I got this thing on but I noticed there is a star like icon in the tray and it says 'your system may be at risk'
I tried loading in my XP disk but I get an error. I have never reinstalled before. I have tried looking throgh the Q&A but I am not finding what I need.
I am not sure what to do. Please help. I am fairly sure this computer has a few viruses and such I seen Zango in the process window and My Cool Websearch somewhere. I don't want to deal with all that . I just want to get a fresh and clean comp. There is absolutlely nothing on this I want saved so that will not be an issue either. Please help and I hope I am posting in the right section.

[Broni]

here is a star like icon in the tray and it says 'your system may be at risk'

This is a warning from Windows Security Center. Normally, it means, that either firewall, or antivirus (or both) is not installed, or turned on.
Since it's a computer from your friend, probably clean install is your best option.
What EXACT error are you getting?
Windows XP clean install manual: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html