A complicated problem! Sorry!

[cherryec]

Hi there and thanks so much for reading this!

Basically, my Dell inspiron 6000 got a virus which wiped most things including drivers. My friend fixed it for me over Christmas break but I think he installed a fake copy of windows as it stopped working with a message saying 'you need to activate this copy of windows, click ok to activate' then I'd click ok and it's just log me out, so I couldn't go any further.

My Dad sent me the correct Windows XP home disk for my computer so I formatted my computer and re-installed windows, but now the graphics seem too big and I can't get on the internet at all to download drivers or even activate my windows properly. When I plug in my internet cable nothing happens, I've tried setting up new connections and automatically detecting settings but nothing is working... I really don't want to have to take it to a computer repair shop but I'm reaching the end of my tether! Any help or advice would be really really appreciated.
Thanks,
Cherry

[Computer Hope Admin]

After formatting the computer and re-installing Windows you should have plenty of time to re-activate the computer. If your still getting the activation prompt it's likely that the computer was not formatted.

If your not wanting to do the format process again you can call Microsoft to activate Windows at: 1-888-571-2048

Finally, if you're needing to get drivers on the computer without Internet access, which you may still need to do even after activation my suggestion would be to download the drivers on another computer with Internet access and then copy those files to a USB flash drive or other medium and install them from that.