I haven't had the need to create a boot disk since systems had floppys, but I have a dell laptop that I need to create a windows xp bootable cd. If anyone can show me step by step how to burn a boot cd, it would make my day.

Hi,
A Windows Boot CD would not do you a lot of good.
Dell provide a "restore partition" on your hard drive which you cannot normally see but which would restore your computer to the day you bought it if all hell broke loose and corrupted your system. You usually access this with a key sequence during boot up (F10?) but you manual would tell you or go to the Dell Support website and key in the model of your machine.
The other option is aimed at a total hard drive failure. Go to Start>programs>Dell Support and you'll find the option the make recovery media (CD or DVD depending on your model) Note that you can only do this once so store the CD's carefully.
ray

   A Boot CD can do you good.  It can allow you to restore a registry backup which will fix the problem that crashed your computer instead of simply erasing everything on your computer and starting back at day one with it.
   Making a Boot CD is not an easy task to do by yourself.  You basically have to put an operating system on the CD, make it bootable, and add recovery tools.
   We have a program called XP Recovery CD Maker (http://www.xp-recovery-cd.com) which will guide you through the process of making a Boot CD and also gives you recovery tools and guidance.