will it wipe out viruses on my computer as well?
2007-05-02 00:28:37 · 14 answers · asked by Hottie 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
Not it will not. Formatting a computer simply deletes the filing structure making it appear to your operating system that you have a clean partition. That is why you can "undelete" data from a drive. Formatting leaves programs intact.
Wiping a drive is a destructive process that overwrites your data. When you "Wipe" a drive it writes random characters to the spaces on your disk. In tis process once Wiped it cannot be undeleted.
There are several types of Wipes.
Quick Wipe. Overwrites one time
DoD Wipe (Department of Defense). Overwrites 7 times
Gutman Wipe. This will make a paranoid 38 overwrites.It will also take 36+ hours for a 20 gb hard drive.
To preform a Quick wipe (which is enough for most) I like and use Kill Disk. If you need more than one pass, which is highly unlikely, try Digital Dolly 1.0
2007-05-02 00:48:23 · answer #1 · answered by acklan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't immediately jump to reformat your comp. You can remove viruses much more easily. Use Malwarebytes, or some other scanner, but don't jump to reformatting your pc. I have NEVER seen a pc I could not wipe of viruses.
2016-05-18 21:33:03 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes definitely, provided that the virus is not on the other partition. That is u will have to format the whole of the hard disk. But why do you need to format the PC when u have so good antiviruses available....formatting is not a healthy solution to viruses.
2007-05-02 00:33:52 · answer #3 · answered by sammy 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yep, if you format your hard drive!
BUT, there are some viruses that reside in the BIOS, so formatting the hard drive will not stop them, as soon as you turn the computer back on, it will re infect your computer!
Always make sure the bios is locked against viruses.
2007-05-02 00:34:07 · answer #4 · answered by tattie_herbert 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sure it would. Reformatting your hard disk does remove everything in it. And that means not a trace of data after reformatting. Be sure to have a backup Windows Installation CD with you. You'll have to reinstall Windows after that.
2007-05-02 02:14:24 · answer #5 · answered by Jobs_141 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If u have formatted all ur drives then YES virus is gone.
If u have only formatted ur C: and rest remains the same, u might still have virus in ur computer.
Install a good antivirus and updated it and also run a full system scan to confirm.
2007-05-02 00:32:35 · answer #6 · answered by Ganesh 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In theory yes, unless the virus is written elsewhere eg. on a external disc drive or thumb drive which can be transferred the moment it's reconnected.
2007-05-02 00:53:33 · answer #7 · answered by Ken 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes it will
1) you need to have a windows installation disk
2) you need to copy all of your important files on cds/dvds before you format the hard disk
3) You will require cds of other programs that you are curently using on your computer
4) you will require driver cds of printer, modem, internet connection etc to reinstall after the windows installation is complete
you can find step by step info on repair install as well reinstall on the link below
http://mypchelp.blogspot.com/2006/10/windows-reinstallation.html
2007-05-02 00:34:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
That's the best ways to do it. After you do that get some free tools to protect yourself. There's a good list here of free antivirus and antispyware programs
http://www.basicspywaretips.com/
2007-05-02 02:10:36 · answer #9 · answered by Mark 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes it will unless the virus is in the Boot sector - then you will need to repartition your hard drives (fdisk - only do if somewhat experienced)
2007-05-02 00:32:16 · answer #10 · answered by Doh 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋