Second user iMac on the way to complete newbie

Hi I am awaiting delivery of 21.5" iMac only three or four weeks old. The first owner has registered it and set up a password which she has given me.
I have been told that if I want to start fresh with new details of my own I need to insert the boot disc and press Ctrl after doing so is this correct. Really looking forward to getting to grips with the mac.
Great forum by the way

Thanks in advance Peter

Welcome to the forum cornishpete .....

Mate my advice would be, considering its already been set up before is to put in the DVD and reboot while holding down *c* ..... the press english ... Then follow on to erase the HD via Disk Utility. Then when that closes it will bring you to the installer window. Do what you need to do to start installing the OS ... When its all done 40 mins or so its all yours. Start up and go through the Mac setup and registering it ....

Once your up and going here is a few things to look at that i posted for a new Mac user not too long ago... If need any more answers be sure to pop in ....

Mac Switching 101
Mac 101

MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps

Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts

Mac OS Menu Bar Items

Mac downloads ~ Apple

So there is a bit of reading there. As i goes for Apps we dont know what you are into, but ill list a few that most people have and you can look them up in the 100 Essential Apps URL i gave ...

Adium ~ Chat Client
Growl Notifications
SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner ~ Both make bootable copies of your HD
HandBrake ~ Video Converting
Burn ~ As it says A Burning App
Transmission ~ p2p client
Skitch ~ Screen capture and more
VLC ~ Video player that plays most codecs and does a lot more
Perian and Flip4Mac Makes watching certain codecs easier ... This is Essential IMHO
Audacity ~ Play with Music App
CandyBar ~ Mods all your icons, and dock
MainMenu or Oynx ~ Does the same as Disk utility only more thorough
Quicksilver ~ Works like Spotlight but way way better and does so much more
StuffitExpander ~ Opens Zip and rar files and more
Lil Snitch ~ Firewall type App that looks at your incoming and outgoing traffic
and last but certainly not least .....
AppTrap ~ Once installed it sits in System Preferences and deletes all associated files of anything that you put in the trash ...

Enough to get ya started

Cheers

Thanks for your prompt reply Tatooedmac very helpful info. The mac arrived in the mail about an hour after you posted I successfully erased the hd and re installed the os (second try lol) all is now ready for the off
Thanks again
Peter