I think you can go to the windows website and buy a license for the illegal copy. Run Microsoft Genuine Advantage and it will identify your copy as illegal and give you either 30 days to license it or it will stop working. This way you don’t have to reformat anything. You will also be able to get all the updates.
As much as I loathe Microsoft, It is their property. I would just get a new Dell, I just got this great little one and it came to about $700. It has Vista which is far superior to XP, and XP will stop being supported soon. In the end MS gets their money anyway. If you buy a transfer cable you can transfer your files and settings right onto the new computer. If you can swing the price of a new computer. Then slap a free OS on the old one and learn how to use that so it will always be an option down the road.
I’m not a computer geek yet, but my kids say I’m well on my way. If I can be of any help send me a private message and I’ll be glad to share anything I know with you. Congratulations on your honesty. Finances are a tough thing to be Catholic about when you’re used to cutting a corner or two. Walking the walk is a lot harder than talking the talk. Good Luck, Dan
PS I think I’m going to have to kick my teenage Son off of his computer and reformat his hard drive in a few minutes. Just kidding.