[911ctS]

Hello, I would greatly appreciate if anyone can help me re format my C: drive. I am currently running a very poor / copied version of XP that I had installed over Windows ME (yes I was one of those unfortionate bastards that got screwed with having ME from Dell). Dell support was the worst once they found out I had ME, they pretty much just laughed at me and got me off the phone asap. Anyway I want to go legit and I would like to recieve Microsoft updates from now on, so I sprung out the $$ and bought Windows XP. My situation on the C: drive is less than ideal, with most likely viruses and corrupted files. How does one go about erasing EVERYTHING and installing XP fresh. I do have a second hard drive so if I move all of my valuble files will they still work once I am done? Also will I need to make a boot disk for my A: drive? I would very much appreciate any advise from any of you pelicans. Or if someone could point me in the direction of a good step by step procedure. I understand the process is pretty complicated. I know nothing about DOS or computers for that matter.
Thanks,
Clint