Question Should you re-format/clean install your Windows OS if you suspect that your system is infected with a malware?

Battousai01

Member
Oct 15, 2002
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Hi guys, I would like to know if it is a good idea to re-format/clean install your Windows OS if you suspect that your system is infected with a malware? I know the answer is yes in a paranoid standpoint but it is kind of tedious to re-install everything from scratch. If it is not ideal, what are the steps to make sure that your system is clean? So far I am relying only on Windows Security (Windows Defender) as the only security application.
 

Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
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This is why you setup everything with updates and make a backup image of the clean system if you're not into reinstalling everything.

I do a clean install at least once a year anyway just to refresh things and it takes maybe an hour to get everything updated again. I also delete the windows security folders using a liveCD because well, I don't like their software probing what's on my systems and it's obnoxious. If you got infected with something there's plenty of online tools that will scan your system for free. There's also plenty of them you can download for free to do a local scan. There's also the option of making a Linux boot USB and run a scan from there while windows isn't running which is probably the best option.