wiping hard drive completly

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Guest

i need to know how to wipe my hard drive completly so i can start from
scrach. i have viruses that i can not get rid of and figure that if i just
wipe my os and start over i should be good. will this work and if so how do i
go about this process i used to know how from boot in dos but can't remember?
 
you need a dos boot floppy or cd, the dos within windows will not do. to wipe
the disk fully, i woudl use ranish partition manager's erase (e) option,
which will fill the whole disk with zeros. this is time-consuming but is a
better method if you want to ensure the disk is clean. don't forget to erase
the mbr as well as the partition-space, viruses can hide there too.
 
i need to know how to wipe my hard drive completly so i can start from
scrach. i have viruses that i can not get rid of
Click to expand...


What viruses? How have you tried to get rid of them?

and figure that if i just
wipe my os and start over i should be good. will this work
Click to expand...


Probably, but except in rare situations, reformatting and reinstalling
to get rid of a virus is enormous overkill, and shouldn't be
necessary.

and if so how do i
go about this process i used to know how from boot in dos but can't remember?
Click to expand...



Booting from DOS is *not* required. Just boot from the Windows XP CD
(change the BIOS boot order if necessary to accomplish this) and
follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the existing
partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm
 
eavy07 said:
i need to know how to wipe my hard drive completly so i can start from
scrach. i have viruses that i can not get rid of and figure that if i just
wipe my os and start over i should be good. will this work and if so how do i
go about this process i used to know how from boot in dos but can't remember?
Click to expand...


Formatting the hard drive to solve a virus or spyware problem is
rather like using an axe to trim one's fingernails. Sure, it'll
probably get the job done, but it's rather messy...., and almost always
unnecessary.

However, if that's what you want to do:

After backing up any data (being careful not to backup the virus)
you wish to transfer to the new OS installation, simply boot from the
WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete,
create, and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You
may need to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to
boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Then the backed up data can be restored and applications re-installed.



--

Bruce Chambers

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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
eavy07 said:
i need to know how to wipe my hard drive completly so i can start from
scrach. i have viruses that i can not get rid of and figure that if i just
wipe my os and start over i should be good. will this work and if so how do i
go about this process i used to know how from boot in dos but can't remember?
Click to expand...

Good question. I look forward to a good response
 
my virus scan says that they are trojons and that they are non repairable
Click to expand...



*What* virus scan?

A Trojan is a particular type of malware, it is not the name of the
malware itself. Specifically *which* trojans are they?

Note that they probably need to be *removed*, not repaired, so the
message may be giving you the wrong idea completely.
 
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