hi when i first bought my computer it came with a preactivated xp and loaded with demos of programs that were useless to me now i formated the cpu got new ram new harddrives and a new retail xp is there a way i can setup a xp cd with the proigrams i want not installed just to be loaded to my desktop zipped

Some misleading comments from your post;

-"formatted", "got new harddrive" ... so you got 2 empty hard drives, do you ? Are they both connected, does the computer boot ? How far does it get ?

-"got new retail xp", "is there a way I can set up a xp cd", so what's your goal ? Install XP like the thread's title suggests or make an installation CD ? If it is for a one shot installation, I suggest you just install XP from the original cd and add your programs.

+ for info, one do not "format a CPU".