Topic: If you format a pc, does it make it purely clean? (Read 350 times)

It depends... if you format your PC and install cracked windows from any torrent source, then you will not be clean at all, those versions of windows always come with viruses and worms... The most effective way to say goodbye to the virus is by formating to install Linux.

I know some people to format their PC to clean them for malware and after installing Linux they go again to torrent services to get free software... i think this is the biggest mistake we can do but is a common practice nowadays.

I thought he is talking about the USB memory sticks because the word "Cheap" has been used.If it is about mechanical hard drive or SSD drives then surely it is possible and easier to wipe and reinstall the operating system.

'USB drives' is a vague term. It can refer to USB flash drives (memory sticks) but can also mean USB disk drives (conventional or SSD). Although, nowadays, there are USB flash drives of relatively large capacity (even 1TB) so I see no reason why it wouldn't be possible to use such devices to back up data from a home computer.

What I recommend is to always use devices from reputable manufacturers for such backup storage purposes. Important data is often lost due to the use of poor quality storage media.

Backup a PC with USB drives?

You need the hard drives which needs to have enough space for storing all the details available or you want to backup and normally it will be in huge size files.

I would recommend anybody to make a backup of their PCs at least a few times per year. USB drives are so cheap at the moment that anybody can afford them. It makes it so much easier to setup your PC again with a backup. So in case of a virus you can just format and  reinstall.

Twenty years ago I went to a seminar on a new "phone home" laptop software that could not be erased with a standard format.  I would assume formatting your hard drive will not erase everything.

What you need to do is a "low level" format.  Usually done by the disk manufacturer, it sets up the sectors and blocks, etc.   This is what you need to do if you are worried about a persistent issue. 

If you want to erase sensitive data, the best way is to write the drive with random 1s and 0s many times.  Formatting does nothing but erase the index.

https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/low-level-format-tool.html

I am not an expert as well.
After formatting your computer it comes in the state when you bought it at the beginning. The key not to make it lagging again is installing the correct drivers after format in order to make it functioning good.

I don't think that is enough read this post


This is best answer for OP's question because there are computer experts that can make use of hard drive even if it is formatted already.

If we are talking about viruses, then formatting the computer will be more than enough.

Yes my friend that doing formatting and making formatting for your computer makes it completely clean, but you need to make formatting for all existing disks and if you do formatting for only one disk then your computer will not become clean and it would be better to format the computer for a newer system than the existing system in addition to the necessity to download Antivirus program

Yes, the paid once are actually good.

It's up to you what will be the one you choose but there are certain anti-virus that deals with a certain viruses. But, AFAIK, most of them are effective. Just avoid downloading to pirated websites that offers 'free' anti-virus.

There are actual free trials but don't download to unknown sites.

Not really. Formatting a hard drive doesn't actually erase the data from it, but only frees up space for new data by erasing the address tables. Formatting is not the same as wiping.
A computer specialist can recover most data from a formatted disk relatively easily.

In theory, by formatting your computer you eliminate all the viruses and malwares that may be present, then you need to install Linus which is safer and of course install a good anti-virus, the best strategy is not to install programs downloaded from the internet

Yes, formatting your hard drive clears all the information from it.

P.S.
You can only restore some files that were deleted from the trash (and not formatted)

Yeah, but is it really? No OS can ever be 100% immune to viruses or malware. The truth is that Linux has never had such a widespread malware infection compared to Windows.
Due to their architecture and implemented security policies, Linux and other Unix-like operating systems are generally considered to be very well protected from computer viruses, but by no means immune to them.

I really think that is going to be the case because if you fully format a computer from scratch, and specially from bios, then you get to clean and fresh start and operating system which also removes all files. So to be safe, make sure to save all your files before formatting.

If you are a paranoid, you just don't care of formatting it.

Yes it will remove the viruses and malware on your computer.
But there are many good anti virus now a day there is no need to format it. There are many tutorial on the YouTube you should watch it.

Yes formatting does remove viruses on your pc then install new operating system. If you don't want have virus use Linux OS it is considered virus free.

yes if you do a format on your pc then the pc will clean make more lightly to make browsing the online gaming and other activities more quickly removes important files quickly I did my backup file format will be essential to avoid data loss.

Sounds like those recommending deleting system32 files to solve some minor/ major issue

Actually that's wrong. If you have a virus on another partition you won't clean it by formatting C:. You have to format the other partition as well.

But, as boyptc said,


Thus, a bad actor could retrieve some of your infected files and if these files are recovered, your PC will be infected again. Some programs (such as Recuva Undelete) can recover deleted files because they are not actually deleted. When you delete a file it is only marked as deleted (and Windows doesn't see it anymore), but at physical level the file is still there. And it will stay there until you will write another file exactly on the place where the deleted file was placed on your HDD.

If you want to make sure that none of the deleted (formatted) data can be recovered, you a need a special software. This software seems to be wiping your HDD but in reality it does more than that: it deletes everything from your HDD and then it fills it with garbage data, then it deletes also this garbage data. As a consequence, your previous files can't be recovered anymore, as after they were deleted, in their place garbage files were written, making impossible to retrieve what was there before the junk files. You can find many such file shredders on the Internet, a very common one being CCleaner.

Regarding reinstalling Windows, it is recommended to fully format your drive at the installation (don't use quick format) and make sure you don't have the network cable plugged in your PC until you finish the installation and you have an antivirus installed. So it's better to have the antivirus kit on an USB stick, then you reinstal your Windows without being connected to Internet; after Windows is installed you install your antivirus and only after you connect your computer to Internet. After that, you should install your drivers (chipset  SATA, RAID, etc.) and then install any other program you wish. This is a better approach as while you are installing Windows you don't have an antivirus protection and if your PC is connected to the network / Internet it is vulnerable in this period.

If you format the PC not only the virus but the PC will be much clearer, but only those that are in the C drive will be formatted Not everything on the PC will be formatted. After cleaning the PC you can reinstall everything from the software file or hard drive.

Yes reformatting your pc makes it 100% clean away all your files ,then right after reinstalling your software be sure to run your antivirus software.

Formatting C drive is just enough to make your PC clean which means reinstall your OS completely not in upgrade mode.

Once you reinstalled it,better subscribe for a good antivirus to keep your device safe from virus.

Wipe your drive with CCleaner or BleachBit. Wipe it from a second computer. If you are scared about something remaining after the wipe, wipe again. Wipe 35 times if you have very sensitive data you are trying to destroy, but one wipe should really be enough. Then format and reinstall your OS.

If its the files that you regularly access which some of them will connect to its repository then its not going to be clean even if you kept reformating your PC. The rat will always activate and download when its connected to the internet. What you need is clean your files, clean it first for malware before reinstalling fresh.  All I can say is that its hard to use Windows when you kept downloading files online, it will just keep coming back. Switch to Linux.

I'm not that expert guy but I'd say it's the most effective thing to remove viruses completely.

But for files, even you reformat many times. There are software that can retrieve data from your hard drive.

Does it? I'm not expert with the viruses...