Re: Will a format of a disc allways get rid of viruses?

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

From: NobodyMan (none_at_none.net)
Date: 01/14/05 

Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 20:13:19 -0500

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 18:49:42 GMT, Al Smith <invalid@address.com>
wrote:

>> I had a bad virus infection that was super tough to get rid of. Can anybody
>> tell me if a drive format and reinstallation will 100% for sure wipe out
>> that virus?
>
>To be absolutely sure, you have to do a repartition of the drive
>as well as a format and reinstallation.
>
>I prefer to use the utilities floppy that comes with hard drives
>to do a "low level format" as it's called, and write zeros to the
>entire drive, returning it to its original state. That way, you
>are sure there's nothing on the drive.

That is not a low level format; that is a disk-wiping utility.

Even doing this, you could still end up with a virus present.
Boot-sector viruses can survive this.

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