1. Boot the first one, then right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab, Startup/Recovery, Edit the boot options, delete only the second entry in the boot list, then Save ... it should now be gone. 2. Personal/business preference.  Putting the hard drive first makes it so that if you want to boot to some other device, you must change it in the BIOS ... for example, setting Hard Drive first, it will never boot to CD if a bootable CD is in the drive. 3. Yes.  Drivers can be found at support.dell.com.  First install the System Software (probably under "utilities"), then chipset, then other devices (such as the video driver).
I'm an old guy with chronic heath problems that make it difficult for me to sit up for very long. I received a  and old  hand-me-down Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop from FreeCycle Seattle and I have a Dell XP re-installation CD that a guy from a BBS mailed to me. The laptop currently has the previous owner's XP installation along with a ton of her software and files. I'd like to delete everything and do a completely clean re-installation of XP so as to avoid inheriting  any problems in her registry (as well as any malware or other issues that may be tagging along for the ride). I tried booting from the Dell re-installation CD, but got stopped cold by the screen that says:  "You chose to install Windows XP on a partition that contains another operating system.  Installing Windows XP on this partition might cause the other operating system to function improperly" But, I don't want to leave any trace of the existing operating system. So do I need to first repartition and reformat the hard drive, and then boot from the Dell CD? Somehow I got the idea that the Dell CD would do the partitioning and reformatting automatically. I'd be grateful for some coaching on this project, Will in Seattle a.k.a. "Clueless"
How to reinstall XP on hand-me-down Inspiron 1100