Almost 90% of the computer repair work I do now is cleaning infected computers. I totally agree that the only sure way of getting rid of a virus is to format and re-install the OS, but I also agree with John's statement from his website.
"Ok, I'm infected. What about a fresh Windows install? If you reinstall the operating system then you'll need to reinstall Windows updates (unless you have a slipstreamed copy), drivers, assorted software, tweaks, and all of your other peripherals which could easily take several hours. You'll then need to figure out how you were infected in the first place in order to prevent it from happening in the future. This is one of the main reasons that I rarely recommend a clean install. As long as you take the time to learn how to clean an infected system a fresh Windows install should be a last resort (unless you have a recent known good image of your drive)."
http://www.elitekiller.com/malware.htm
The only time I format and reinstall the OS is when the OS is beyond repair, or the person has a good image of the drive. I have yet to encounter the latter.
Most people, no matter how many times I tell them to do so, never backup their important files, i.e., music, pictures, documents. An infected computer I worked on this week had 92GB of music files on it.
To answer smakme7757's question. Quoting John again: "The fact is that no single antivirus or antispyware application can successfully remove all malware circulating around the internet. It's not unusual to resort to an arsenal of security products in an attempt to ensure that everything has been properly removed."
If your computer is infected go to John's website, download his rogue removal kit, unzip it and read his Readme.pdf file.
To keep your computer from being infected again read and follow mechBgon's "How (and why) to secure your Windows PC"
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/security2.html
And as John points out: "Most of all I can't stress enough how important it is to use common sense!"
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