How can I reformat my dell laptop if I don't have the origonal cds?

My dell is 4-5 years old and has recently really slowed down. I have scanned for viruses and spyware, but haven't really seemed to get it running faster. I am thinking about reformating it and could easily just back up the data on a disk, but I don't have the origonal cds. Can I still reformat it somehow? Would perhaps firefox at circuit city help?How can I reformat my dell laptop if I don't have the origonal cds?Sooooo....you can try this. Some Dells have a hidden recovery partition that you can access by hodling down the control key (ctrl) and F11 during boot (before the windows splash screen). It doesn't always take the first time so sometimes you have to repeat this process.....assuming your dell has a hidden recovery partition. Fly on albatross.How can I reformat my dell laptop if I don't have the origonal cds?Do you need a specific CD to reformat your laptop or will any OS Boot disc work? you could call Gell up :PHow can I reformat my dell laptop if I don't have the origonal cds?You can reformat it but without a system disc you have no operating system. No windows, no computer. You can contact dell to purchase discs for about $25. You should have them anyway. I would try deleting old programs, internet files, temp files. Also, you might want to defrag your computer. Keep in mind that the more you put on your hard drive the longer it takes to find information so it will slow down. If you plan to put all of the same data back, reformating is kinda pointless.