Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this but I currently have a copy of Win XP Home that I bought a while back I belive it is XP with SP1 only. Now sometime in the future 3 to 6 months that is I plan on getting a new rig that I am going to build (dont need suggestions I have a thread on that topic already) now I plan on buying a new hdd to replace my current main hdd with the OS on it. Now when I decide to install a new hdd as my main drive i.e. has the OS on it am I going to need to buy a new copy with sp2 already on it or will I be able to install and get the Win XP SP1 installed and updated or will I end up with a crap load of viruses and worms. From what I have read its pretty much damn near impossible to get online with only SP1 installed and not get overloaded with all kinds of crap that exploit already fixed holes. If I can I would prefer not to have to spend another 150 bucks to buy a new copy of what I already own just to avoid getting a lot of crap on my new pc when i try and get all the new updates.

First all, please learn to use paragraphs, otherwise your stuff all runs together and its tough to read.

That said, download Service Pack 2 from MS and slipstream it onto your XP CD. Then follow these instructions:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showca [...] stream.asp

That will allow you to have Service Pack 2 right out of the box on your new install.

Few tips on avoiding spyware/viruses:

1) Install an antivirus like Norton. If you are cheap like me, Avast works great and its free. http://www.avast.com

2) Install Windows Defender Beta 2 for spyware catching. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/se [...] fault.mspx

3) Do not use IE. Even with SP2 there are so many holes its like swiss cheese. Use Firefox instead. http://www.getfirefox.com

You can get an .iso file of Gparted. It's a live CD of linus that is for the sole purpose of reformatting drives, and such. You can copy a whole partition from one disk to the other, then just update WinXP and such.

I like the idea of slipstreaming a new XP cd thanks for the idea. The only reason I had and worries about the viruses and worms and such it that I had been told that basically just connecting to the internet the first time to do the inital updates that I need that your computer would basically be slammed with all kinds of crap before you could even get the updates installed.

If thats not the case and I could get stuff like Zone Alarm and Avast installed and then get my updates then I wouldn't really have a problem. I guess I am just trying to find out if the info I was told (can't remember who by) is true or not.

Yeah man your info was incorrect as your instinct told you if you have brainz enough to run basic but good fire wall + some anti V you 'll be ok..
Hell I've run this rig with only anti V + anti SPY and no firewall at all
Dumb luck i guess.

Well thats good so I can go ahead and reinstall windows get online get my firewall and antivirus up and then get the 4 million windows updates with out getting over run by junk. I will still probally download and burn copies of my firewall and anti virus installers so I can just in stall them before I get out on the net.