New Swithcher Please help with refresh

Greetings all,

I have just stepped into the Mac world having seen the great things it can do, not to mention how slick it looks.
I have been given a PowerMac G4 800 mhz, 1gb ram, 40gb HD, CD Drive. We used to use at work. Still has the OS 9 and OS X 10.1.3 still installed and hasn't been used for over 3 years. I would like to reformat the HD, b'cos Im restricted from using some functions (the way it has been set up for work). I wouldn't have a clue where to start and have spent hours and hours reading through many forum questions and googling! I have also tried the insert disc, hold down c, but still nothing happens. It seems that the HD is locked and I can't even do a repair on OSX platform. I'm worried about drivers if this get's reformatted. I am wanting to put Tiger on this Mac. Can i just easily purchase the Tiger OS and install over the lot or do i still need to install 9 first? Please help!

A clean install of Tiger is your best bet. You can wipe the drive and reformat using the disk utility on the DVD. Not sure why holding down "C" isn't working. Maybe the Install disks you have are bad.

If you have no need for OS9, then you don't need to install it first. It's only usefull to keep around if you have OS9 speciffic programs that you need/prefer to OSX versions.

-MikeM

If this machine will still be used for work, I'd caution against doing any upgrades that will change it's capabilities much without checking with IT or Security first. However, if you've retrieved it from the dumpster? Go for it.

Thanks Guys,
I will be purchasing The Tiger OS tomorrow and go from there. Hopefully I get it up and running and without any probs.
Can I just ask lastly if iwork 08 & ilife 08 is compatible with Tiger? If not what software do you recommend for me to use. I have been using the Microsoft Office package since and hear so many good things about what the Mac can offer. Thanks in advance..

-Tizz

ilife and iwork 08 are compatible with tiger also.