How to format my HD and reinstall Vista

Goose · 6 Mar 2009 at 17:57

I have vista 64bit OEM and i'm wondering what the best method is for completely formatting my HD and reinstalling Vista? I got infected my malware and due to my super paranoia i want to format my HD to ensure its completely gone.

Do i need special software for it or must i do it from the command prompt or something? Is KillDisk complicated to use?

Thanks.

Wiggins · 6 Mar 2009 at 18:06

You can format the Hard Drive when you install Vista.

Boot it from the CD Drive and it will prompt you where to load Vista and if you want to format it.

Kalpsn2000 · 6 Mar 2009 at 18:09

Wiggins said:
You can format the Hard Drive when you install Vista.

Boot it from the CD Drive and it will prompt you where to load Vista and if you want to format it.

That is quick format. I assume the OP want's to do a full format.

Goose · 6 Mar 2009 at 18:41

Yeah i'd like to do a full format if possible. I've downloaded killdisk and i'll see if i can work out how to use it.

Could anyone tell me if there are any complications with resintalling vista home basic OEM? I haven't changed any of my hardware or anything but will i have to jump through hoops to reactivate it?

Cheers.

The Mad Rapper · 6 Mar 2009 at 18:52

Download dBan and burn it to disc. Boot and zero out the entire drive, malicious code could exist inside the MBR and a format is not going to get rid of it.

Goose · 6 Mar 2009 at 18:57

Does dban leave the HD in a ready state for re-installing vista? And how long does it take to wipe the drive?

It looks pretty heavy duty. Is it necessary to use something dban in order to be sure that my pc is 100% malware free? Will killdisk not do a good enough job?

Cheers.

Memphis · 6 Mar 2009 at 19:32

A very simple quick format is more than sufficient to remove any malware. Every suggestion in this thread is massive overkill.

Wiggins · 7 Mar 2009 at 08:34

Using the Vista installation to format the drive will overwrite anything malicious.

Killdisk and others like it are used for overwriting on hard drives many times so that they can be sold/destroyed and feel safer in the knowledge their data is not going to get recovered.

CaptainCrash · 7 Mar 2009 at 12:44

Memphis said:
A very simple quick format is more than sufficient to remove any malware. Every suggestion in this thread is massive overkill.

Yes, I think there's a general tendency (understandable perhaps) to view computer viruses almost as biological "infections" that needs to be "sterilised" in the same way you'd deal with a hospital ward that was infected with MRSA. A computer virus is just code, nothing more, nothing less, and if it's incapable of being executed it's just a collection of bits which can't do anything (hard to imagine how it could be run after a format).

I suppose it's conceivable that some types of virus might lodge themselves in the MBR as mentioned above, but I haven't seen one of those for many, many years, and a clean install of Vista overwrites the MBR anyway.

Still, if a zero-fill brings peace of mind, I guess it's worth doing for that reason if nothing else...

Richdog · 7 Mar 2009 at 12:50

Goose said:
I have vista 64bit OEM and i'm wondering what the best method is for completely formatting my HD and reinstalling Vista? I got infected my malware and due to my super paranoia i want to format my HD to ensure its completely gone..

Completely pointless, you can remove it (and 99% of other infections) manually without re-installing anything.

datawrite · 7 Mar 2009 at 13:15

If you want to format it just put the Vista DVD in and do it that way as mentioned above. More than enough.

How do you get rid of the 'Antivirus 2009' program without format? Any good programs i can use to remove it and then stop it coming back!!!

AVG didn't help!!

Richdog · 7 Mar 2009 at 13:18

AVG is next to useless, install Avira instead.

As for Antivirus 2009... http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=an...ent-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB261GB261&aq=t

datawrite · 7 Mar 2009 at 14:18

Richdog said:
AVG is next to useless, install Avira instead.

As for Antivirus 2009... http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=an...ent-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB261GB261&aq=t

Thanks

Also, Avira is better than AVG and Avast?

MalwareBytes looks like a good program. Anyone used it?

SimonC · 7 Mar 2009 at 14:55

datawrite said:
MalwareBytes looks like a good program. Anyone used it?

Yes it is good, I use it along with superantispyware.

Sharpz · 12 Mar 2009 at 02:18

Wiggins said:
You can format the Hard Drive when you install Vista.

Boot it from the CD Drive and it will prompt you where to load Vista and if you want to format it.

Im also trying to re-format using windows vista, i have deleted my partion and created a new one and clicked the format button, it litterly takes 10 seconds? is this right ? i remember reformating xp took hours....

Priapus · 12 Mar 2009 at 06:29

Yes, that's right. It does a 'quick' format. In Windows XP you had the option to do long format and quick format. The long one took hours, quick one took a few seconds.

bledd · 12 Mar 2009 at 09:17

Kalpsn2000 said:
That is quick format. I assume the OP want's to do a full format.

There's no difference

All full format does is a disk check (for disk errors) afterwards.

quick format is perfect for this.

also, how did you get the virus?
did you disable UAC? (this gives you less protection) -you can always use TweakUAC to 'silence' the UAC prompts whilst keeping protection

linktoinsanity · 12 Mar 2009 at 11:08

Memphis said:
A very simple quick format is more than sufficient to remove any malware. Every suggestion in this thread is massive overkill.

+1. I agree.