Biggest one that I can think of is that you have to reinstall and reconfigure XP all over again, as well as reinstalling all your drivers and programs.
Do you think its better to just reformat my HD so that I can remove all programs that came with laptop or should I just remove them manually through add and remove programs? Is also using add and remove programs just as effective as reformatting?
Using Add/Remove leaves clutter in the registry. If you use a program like "Your Uninstaller" you can get rid of all that clutter that would have previously been left. With less junk in the registry, Windows seems to respond a bit better, especially if this 'junk' is left to clutter for a while.
I'd say you would probably get a similar result. The only problem is that that program is not free. However, you could probably find a similar program that is
Then go to program files in c drive and delete old folders of programs just deleted, not much space hoggin buit i just like to get rid of em personally!