I had two computers one running XP the latest running Vista,the older machine running XP ceased working ,I called in a professional he said that because of its age,the drive(C) on the older computer was not being readI removed the older computer and network equipment,now because of problems with Vista and compatibility,I am think of restoring the network.Would a new Hard drive be all that I need? I must confess that as an 81yr old pensioner,a lot of this is new to me I need some help please. frederickgt TY

   It is not clear to me what you want to restore.  You say the network.  Is that the XP computer?
   If you are talking about fixing the XP computer, it looks like you will have to buy a new harddrive and Windows XP, then install them.

I want to set up my network again,I have a XP installation disk,original,would this be ok for a virgin HD Drive?

Yes.

A program I have found useful is Network Magic, from PureNetworks, which has been bought by Cisco. You can have a free trial to use it for setting up your network. I have a paid copy on each of five computers in my house, and feel it is worth it.

I was not that impressed with Network Magic.

I have found it useful for the less experienced users in my family. It is easier for them to recover when the network is interrupted, and lets me know who is on the network.