Hiya,
I too am new to this lark, so please be patient and reply without too many technical terms please.
I have windows xp home edition installed, and would like to install the professional. I have backed up all my files that I want. Can I totally scrub my memories without doing this partition thing. so it will be like starting from scratch and then installing windows xp prof. newtown xx

No need, just put your xp pro cd in and upgrade!

I tried that once before when I thought I had a genuine xp cd, and all the bumff came up about partitions, what happens then. How do I solve that

Try this link, not sure why it's asking you about the partition. Make sure you've selected the 'Upgrade' option.

Windows XP: Upgrading

I don't know why, I inserted the cd and all went well, then up came the partitions bit, why do we need partitions. I thought loading new would automatically wipe everything else out.

if you want to wipe the OS, simply restart your comp with the cd in the drive (check that cd is listed as first boot device in your bios) and when given the option to format or leave files system intact, choose to format.

__________________

</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

Ok, William will do, thanks you for your help. newtown