Trying to load OS

I have a dell laptop that I am trying to use the a recovery cd that dell sent me to get this sucker running right. The cd will only load the OS, it does not make the laptop out of box condition. Dell told me that up front before they sent it. I noticed that there are 2 windows.old folders. One is windows.old and the other is windows.old.000. These 2 folders are maxing out the 500G hard drive which leaves me only 19G free space. If I do a clean install will it wipe everything and just load the OS? If this is not an option, can I delete the 2 windows.old folders and then load the OS?

Decided to go with clean install. This way I have a clean start and no bloatware. Now just get the drivers and put what I want on it. I bought it from a pawn shop. Had to transfer ownership and then I was able to get the cd. Dell sent it for free:).

What originally prompted my post was I tried to delete the windows old folders and it said something to the effect that if I delete it Windows would not work. I later found the tutorial on deleting Windows.old. Much easier.

All is well.

The Windows.old folder contains a copy of the previous Windows installation, if you decide that you're happy with current system and confident that your files and settings are back to where you want them to be, just delete the windows.old folders.

I did delete them just so I could follow the tutorial. Those 2 folders maxed out the hard drive. WOW. I learn something new every time I log on to this forum.

Repair install will preserve your files, folder, music, video, pictures, etc, and just reinstall widows. See Repair Install by Brink
Recovery CD is not installation DVD, as it does not contain operating system, simply boots to recovery mode.

If you have your product key, on machine, you can download iso from Microsoft Download Center
if you don't I can provide you with Visual Basic script to find it in your registry, convert it from binary and open window with key displayed. If you do this make sure you copy the 25 character key exactly. What I do is copy 5 characters skip line copy 5 characters, etc. till complete and double/triple check I copied it right.

Here's Repair Install by Brink

If your repair install fails try running the Setup.exe in compatability mode for Vista right-click Setup.exe, check compatability mode check box, choose Vista.

I do repair installs all the time!!

You can delete previous Windows.old to free up space. You can also transfer some of your files, folder, etc. to external storage i.e. Flash Drive or HDD.

If you need any additional information or assistance I will be glad to help!