First off, you should make a windows 8.1 ISO so that you will always be able to reinstall the operating system.
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/53855-Windows-8-1-with-Update-ESDs-Repository
The website above will provide you with ESDs (basically the windows installer) for windows 8.1 (with the spring update)...I'd suggest clicking on the "Direct permalinks" link and then selecting from there which version you have (N versions are for countries that don't allow certain proprietary content to be included in the OS, usually media player stuff)...the thread I've linked has all the stuff you need to create an ISO from the ESD you download...
In order to install and activate windows, you will need your windows product key...if your computer came with windows 8.1, then you are in good shape...if your computer came with windows 8 only and then you later upgraded to windows 8.1, things will be a bit trickier...while a W8 key will activate W8.1, only a W8.1 key can be used to initiate the installation of W8.1...to bypass this, you'll need to create a ei.cfg file and put it with your W8.1 installation files (google this or ask here if you need help with that)...you can add this file to the ISO after the ISO has already been created, so don't worry about that....
Once you got that figured out, either burn the ISO to a DVD or put it on a formatted flashdrive...the flashdrive needs to be formatted to FAT32 and big enough to hold the ISO (4 GBs should be enough)...I'd suggest the flashdrive since it's easier to change if you need to configure your install differently...
Then you are ready to install...have your computer boot from the USB flashdrive and you should be good...I'd recommend doing a UEFI install instead of a BIOS install (so when you pick your device to boot from, make sure it has "EFI" or "UEFI" in front of the name of the USB flashdrive)...this will allow you to use all those built-in recovery features in the future as well as enable Secure Boot...
EDIT: Make sure that when you select which partition to install on, you delete all of them...when you then click on that single group of "unallocated space", you should then see 4 partitions created...that's what makes all the recovery features work...
This is by no means a comprehensive guide but the ESDs linked above are the key part and should get you on the right path...best of luck...
As for drivers, I would suggest downloading the most recent ones and putting them on a flashdrive or external hard drive...
- Easy one is your graphics card driver...go to NVIDIAs or AMDs website and download what you need...
- You'll want your Intel drivers too...you can get these from the intel website, you'll probably want to get the integrated graphics and the Wifi (if that's relevant)...your wifi could also be Broadcom or something else...
- If you know your Ethernet manufacturer, go to their website and get their most recent driver...
- You'll probably want an Audio driver, could be Realtek or Intel...
- If laptop, touchpad driver (probably Synaptics)
- You might have some other odds and ends like an SD card reader or CIR receiver...
General rule of them is to get as many drivers as possible directly from the manufacturer since they will have the most updated...then go to Dell's website and get whatever you couldn't find....usually this includes Dell specific software (like for touch button volume control, for example), possibly an Intel Management Engine (these are machine specific so you'll probably need to get this from Dell), and maybe some other things...
