how does reformating your computer fix it?

Question

my friend said that if her were to look at porn he can fix the viruses by reformating his computer...i think he said reformating any way.

whats reformating?

Answer 1

It's a last-ditch effort to eliminate viruses from a computer. You need to have a boot floppy disk to start your computer again, and you have to reload your operating system from CD or whatever. Reformating your hard drive is what you do when nothing else will work, and you just want to reclaim the use of the machine. The software that was on it is lost, unless you backed up before you got the virus.

Answer 2

Nwo now everyone lets not forget that some viruses are stronger than others and saying that to format your hard drive would eliminate any virus is a false statement because hasnt
anyone ever heard of a boot sector virus?

But for the most part formatting a hard drive should eliminate the data to a regular computer user. Now, if you had some highly confidential stuff to protect that you absolutely didnt want anyone to get hold of then a simply format wouldnt do.
But I doubt thats the case here where the asker only was concerned about hiding the porn tracks.

sorry just felt a need to inject the correction is all.

Oh yeah and some Root Kit can only be eliminated with a total hard drive erasure so in which case I would recommend the hour + long process to format and reinstall the O.S. as a simple anti virus wont pick up the highly advanced threats out there.

So saying just get AVG for a virus would depend on what type of threat that person has. So in essence that statement is wrong to
and AVG sucks anyway who uses that crap.

Hey idiots reformatting is formatting it after you tried it once before why dont you just say formating the drive dummies

Answer 3

Like surfer gal said, reformatting is erasing the hard drive (so to speak). usually after you reformat, you install Windows. Both acts together are known as a "clean install".

Oooh, now I know you're impressed, LOL!

Reformatting is the extreme way to fix something. It's not efficient either, because it's a waste of time. It's great to use when nothing else works, but it can be avoided if you start backing stuff up often. If you use a product like Acronis TrueImage or Norton's Ghost, you can make images/copies of the way everything is set up on your hard drive. If something happens like you get infected or Windows quits working for some reason, you can quickly restore your hard drive to the last image you made.

Answer 4

Reformatting your computer and reinstalling Windows erases all the files and programs on your computer and replaces them with a completely clean, brand-new version of Windows. Reformatting may make your computer run faster, and it will fix problems caused by spyware and viruses. Reformatting is sometimes the only way to fix problems caused by viruses and "back-door" programs that take control of your computer. There are several actions to take before, during and after reformatting to ensure your computer works properly after the reformat.

Answer 5

Your friend is a moron. He is saying that because he gets a virus he is going to completely reload everything on his PC. Which will take a couple hours. When all he really needed was an antivirus program.

AVGfree is a free antivirus program you can get from www.download.com

Answer 6

reformatting would indeed fix a computer if a virus scan fails to do so. it's similiar to a human being starting his life all over again.

Answer 7

Reformatting is wiping everything from your computer and reinstalling it. yes it should fix it.

Answer 8

Reformatting is "permanently" erasing everything. Everything... all programs, all data, windows, everything is erased.