Hey guys, I plan on doing a reformat of my windows 8 laptop and I was wondering whether a simple reformat using the built in reset function would get rid of any potential nasty malware on my laptop or is it possible for some malware to survive it? What would I need to do to be sure my new install is completely clean (i.e. resetting BIOS, etc.)? I don't care to save my personal files because I don't have anything important on this laptop. Thank you.
(02-18-2015, 11:03 PM)devin Wrote: [ -> ]Hey guys, I plan on doing a reformat of my windows 8 laptop and I was wondering whether a simple reformat using the built in reset function would get rid of any potential nasty malware on my laptop or is it possible for some malware to survive it? What would I need to do to be sure my new install is completely clean (i.e. resetting BIOS, etc.)? I don't care to save my personal files because I don't have anything important on this laptop. Thank you.
if you doing this on a OEM machine (ie Dell Hp Toshiba) You should be ok if you choose the option to reset your computer to factory.
@Timster My laptop is ASUS so I'm not sure if it's OEM. Also, I need some assurance that no malware can alter and include itself onto the factory version of the OS rendering the reset useless.
@Britec Also, the laptop didn't come with the windows 8 installation CD so I can't really try what the link is telling me to do.
Do you not create a Recovery CD? Do you have recovery partition?
You can do a factory reset on your Asus laptop. This will completely wipe out your current Windows install including any viruses but it will also wipe all of your data including documents and programs installed. It will also retore your computer back to when you purchased the laptop so you will have some work to do getting it updated and current.
Here are instructions on how to restore your laptop to the day you purchased it.
Windows 8 - How to restore the system to factory default settings
@Britec Yah, I neglected to make a recovery CD when I first got my laptop. I'll do it once I reset my computer.
@Timster Ok, will do. One question, will they ask for my activation code before I can reset the computer?
Your reset will be auto activated. The only input it will ask you is user name desired, time and date etc.
Ok, thank you for the input, britec and timster.