newbie here! simple stupid please - How do go about creating a bootable system disk?

Just about any computer store (Best Buy, Circuit City, Comp USA, etc.) sells emergency boot disks. Why would you want to buy a disk rather than make one yourself? Three reasons:

1. A disk you make will probably be on a floppy. Most laptops these days don't have internal floppy drives - not very convenient if you want to use the floppy disk on a laptop.

2. A mass produced, commercially made CD boot disk is more likely to work (better quality control) and can be used on a desktop or a laptop.

3. A commercially prepared boot CD will have much more than just the emergency boot. They usually include an array of diagnostic tools. As an example, here's a couple of links for boot CDs available on eBay. They should give you an idea of what you'd get with a store bought disk:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ultmate-Emergency-Boot-Disk-Di...

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOOT-CD-EMERGENCY-REPAIR-FIX-W...

Just a thought.

plrr

Go here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

There are some cool tutorials plus the programs you need.