PCTech Forums

does doing a full/quick format eliminate the risk of any harmful malicious stuff on the computer...,i know that full/quick format doesnt erase data for good and writing zeros does...BUT how about when i suspected my system to have been hacked, torojans installed, spywares,...ALL kinds of harm espcially that i used it to access the net with protection for a while since it was for no sensitive use..but now i would like to use that for some online financial access...but i am worried of the threat from the hard drive past.. if i do a full format will that eliminate that risks or may be some how any malicious data or a hacker retrive such files by recovery from the drive..

also how often/ how many full formats is too much and can cause damage

whats the diffrence between full format quick format and write zeros?


thanks

A full format will eliminate any threat of existing malware, etc.


Im not aware of such a thing as too many re-formats or damage being done.

A format will remove data from the drive, check for errors and set up the type of file system you choose.

A quick format doesnt check for errors, it simply does a poor job of removing data and is useless in my opinion.

Zero fill destroys everything in its way, ALL data, file system, MBR, partitions, just everything. It takes some time to run but it sets the drive back up to the state it came from the manufacture.

If your just concerned about previous intrusions and wanting a clean start, a full format and a clean install of windows is more than sufficient. Accompany it with a good antivirus , and a good antispyware tool such as
or and you'll be in pretty good shape.

Hope thats helpful.