If your system got infected, would you reformat?

[Ambroos]

If it's easy to get rid of, no problem. There's hardly anything confidential about anything I do on my PC. No online banking stuff that can be used without the actual card etc.

[-Vivicidal-]

If it is blocked by network shields etc then I'd do nothing, but, if as you descibed it took a lot of work to remove then yes, I'd nuke the disk and reformat.

[speedstr3789]

Format IMO is a last resort or a lazy mans way of fixing something. Either because they don't want to take the time or have no idea how to fix it. ( on customers computer)

No matter what you do you still need to scan the customers data before you put it back on their computer( If you plan on formatting)

Then you need to reinstall the os, download drivers, update the system and test everything out.

Time wise, I don't see a big difference.

When I did computer repair we never charged for time spent scanning for issues, only the time spent installing the spyware removal tools etc...and the time spent removing infections. anytime the computer was scanning or defragging etc...there was no time charged. When the scanning was complete however, then the time began again. Why would you charge a customer for time spent on something when you weren't doing anything to the computer?

It's really a one on one basis on how you deal with a problem. Sometimes the time needed to track down drivers, reinstall everything, update everything, install their apps and test everything takes longer than scanning and repairing.

I am a firm believer in that you can most certainly get rid of all spyware or virus's without formatting.

[Growled Member]

I've learned from running Linux that most of the time it's better to work at it and solve the problem and learn from the experience. It really is easy to format but you don't learn anything from it.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Format IMO is a last resort or a lazy mans way of fixing something. Either because they don't want to take the time or have no idea how to fix it. ( on customers computer)

No matter what you do you still need to scan the customers data before you put it back on their computer( If you plan on formatting)

Then you need to reinstall the os, download drivers, update the system and test everything out.

Time wise, I don't see a big difference.

When I did computer repair we never charged for time spent scanning for issues, only the time spent installing the spyware removal tools etc...and the time spent removing infections. anytime the computer was scanning or defragging etc...there was no time charged. When the scanning was complete however, then the time began again. Why would you charge a customer for time spent on something when you weren't doing anything to the computer?

It's really a one on one basis on how you deal with a problem. Sometimes the time needed to track down drivers, reinstall everything, update everything, install their apps and test everything takes longer than scanning and repairing.

I am a firm believer in that you can most certainly get rid of all spyware or virus's without formatting.

I'm assuming that is when the customer brought them to your shop. What would you have done if you did in home service calls?

[zeroday]

Depends on the severity of the virus. For a serious one, I would copy my essential documents to my external hard drive via BartPE and format. Otherwise, I would clean the system with an av and use various tools to make sure the system is clean before using it again properly.

[Dc'1]

I wouldn't, well I would if it was a serious virus, like the last one I had (like 4 years ago lol) but if I got clumsy and ended up with some kind of adware I wouldn't bother. Most viruses I would be fine just cleaning with an AV.

[way2quik]

If it is bad enough for me to reformat then yes. If the malware is bad enough to keep reappearing or if the computer begins to crawl, definitely yes.

If I know what malware is installed in the first place, most likely I would leave the computer alone till I feel like reformating.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Most likely yes. It does depend on the type of infection though.

[Phenom II]

A few years ago I just wiped, no questions asked

Now I am much more clued up in virus removal and I would say 90-95% of infections I can remove myself and be confident they are dead, the other 5-10% are the nasties that no matter what you do, what you use, how many google searches and registry edit you do, they just wont go away - then I wipe

But I dont get infections like that now... if any - as becoming clued up on removal also clued me up on how not to get infected in the first place - also as AVs get better, connection to malware sites are cancelled before you get there, file downloads are stopped before the virus even reaches the PC etc etc

[x-scratch]

restore my image only takes less then 5 mins to restore back

[Bhav]

I always reformat after a virus etc. It's not just because of the trust thing though. Even after running loads of scans and removing everything that's found, there's always some crap left over and you're bound to have annoying issues in some situations.

So it's really just easier/safer/better to do a clean reinstall/restore a clean image.

[sweetsam]

This... using Acronis True Image

restore my image only takes less then 5 mins to restore back

[SyntaxError]

Formatting is a last resort, but I've done it often in the past before I learned a few things.

My most recent malware removal was on my mom's xp machine. She got some fake anti-spyware crap from an infected ad on a news site. She didn't click the ad, and it just happened to come from somewhere that wasn't listed in the Adblock filter or hosts file.

Thankfully she has listened to me before and knew not to click anything when it came up with it's bull**** claims.

Between Spybot and Malwarebytes, the problem was solved easily.

[Night Prowler]

I renewed my OS when I installed Windows 7. Before that I renewed my OS with Vista. Those are the only times I ever reformated. I do a daily backup to an external drive and did run my OS drive Mirrored.

I no longer mirror becuse I am now using an SSD for my OS.

If for whatever reason I need to renew my OS it takes less then 10 minutes to reimage using Acronis Home.

[MarkusDarkus]

Id just go back to last Image. I've never had to do that though.

[Night Prowler]

Formatting is a last resort, but I've done it often in the past before I learned a few things.

My most recent malware removal was on my mom's xp machine. She got some fake anti-spyware crap from an infected ad on a news site. She didn't click the ad, and it just happened to come from somewhere that wasn't listed in the Adblock filter or hosts file.

Thankfully she has listened to me before and knew not to click anything when it came up with it's bull**** claims.

Between Spybot and Malwarebytes, the problem was solved easily.

I don't really think you can REALLY clean a system that has been infected. It's much better to revert back to a clean backup if you have or had an infection. Just because one infection was cleaned doesn't mean that BOT is not just setting there, waiting.

I always do a clean install of a customer site if they have been infected. Almost everyone does some sort of very personal things on their system like banking, investments and the such. I could never be 100% sure and that is what we strive for with our customers, or family

[Lee G. Veteran]

Yes, I would reformat.

[Mazhar]

Yes if infection is serious, I will format.

[itzwolf]

It really depends on what it is, but for the most part I just don't take the chance and use it for another reason to have a fresh start on the computer in question.

[Elizabeth]

What about viruses infected i prefer use firewall such as Protemac Netmine. I have Leopard and use it for protects against viruses.It’s helps me a lot and I have never had a viruses.

[JonathanVP]

Yes, it is a given. That is why I keep my personal data and stuff on a separate hd.

[REM2000]

For my home pc i don't bother with images, i prefer to just reformat. To answer your question, yep would reformat as i would no longer trust the machine.

[Gocom]

If I ever got infected I would shoot myself... to foot. Because if you do get infected most likely you are doing something wrong, and bleeding is a good way to remember the stupid **** you are. Just kidding, but it is true. How in the god sake ppl get infected over and over again. Running java applets just fun of it? Clicking ok to every question that your OS present to you. Using god sake old applications that like to receive **** from outside? Downloading and running every executable from the interwebs? Using one of the god damn stupid "Desktop Firewalls" and l33t killz warez anti-virus proff that makes you godlike? And yes, Softpedia, deviantart and other places that are legit won't mean that the download is clean and legit.

So, if I got infected, sure why not. I could reinstall. Only thing i lose is OS itself... and leg. Altho, getting infected is the hard part. Sure you can run a format command for drive, put if you never install anything and something ask for password... meh. Only way to get infected is security hole in either OS itself or program... which also causes a prompt if it tries to infect core except when there is a hole or program runs with required privs.

Hey, bloody needle, better to pick it up *stuck* Ouch.

[Digital Tonic]

Yeah, I'd probably format every time.