A full format would kill any virus on your hard drive so you'll be fine there, also your Windows files are replaced when re-installing the operating system. You've probably chosen to fully format the drive in which case it can take a long time to complete, hours and hours in some cases depending on drive size. You could start again and choose quick format... Just do a quick format 2 -3 times, then re-install the OS.
Reinstalling windows need help
The other night I came home from work and my computer was frozen. I could not X out of anything, use CTRL ALT DEL or open my start menu to restart my computer, so I restarted by holding in my power button. When I started my computer back up, I got all the way to the windows loading screen and it froze . Right after it froze, a blue screen popped up for about a second and then my computer restarted itself. Upon the restart I got the error message "Windows did not successfully boot, please select a boot type". It listed me Safe Mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with command prompt, last known good configuration and start windows normally. I chose all of them but none of them worked, they all had the same freezing and blue screen effect.
Today I tried about 100 things. I've tried clearing my CMOS, resetting BIOS settings, disconnecting/reconnecting my PSU, HD, and CDROM from my motherboard. I've also tried windows repair but whenever it got to the part where it says "Your computer will now restart, setup will continue when your computer starts back up" it never did. It would always start over from the beginning, so I chose to reformat. I deleted the Windows Partition on my C drive and it is now formatting again. However, it appears to be frozen at 81% installed. Is it actually frozen or does it just take really long to format? It's been about 45 minutes and its still formatting
EDIT: nvm I just went back and checked and now its moved to 84%, man this takes long. Does it sound like I opened a virus that messed with some vital windows files? I didnt have much installed on this computer anyways so reformatting for me isnt really too awful.
Today I tried about 100 things. I've tried clearing my CMOS, resetting BIOS settings, disconnecting/reconnecting my PSU, HD, and CDROM from my motherboard. I've also tried windows repair but whenever it got to the part where it says "Your computer will now restart, setup will continue when your computer starts back up" it never did. It would always start over from the beginning, so I chose to reformat. I deleted the Windows Partition on my C drive and it is now formatting again. However, it appears to be frozen at 81% installed. Is it actually frozen or does it just take really long to format? It's been about 45 minutes and its still formatting
EDIT: nvm I just went back and checked and now its moved to 84%, man this takes long. Does it sound like I opened a virus that messed with some vital windows files? I didnt have much installed on this computer anyways so reformatting for me isnt really too awful.
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yeah I chose not to do the quick one lol, maybe I should have? It's been taking about 1.5 hours so far and its still on 84%. It hasnt moved off 84% in about 15-20 minutes. My HD is 160GB's
You could still be waiting in a couple of hours for a 160GB to complete. You can either wait for it or hit CTRL+ALT+Delete to restart the machine and start again using a few quick formats. Full formatting IS more thorough however, it just takes ages.
does it matter ultimately which one I choose? I dont want to sit here untill like 6PM waiting for this thing to finish. Are there any benefits to doign the full instead of the quick?
The only benefit is that you will know that the drive is as fully clean as it can be and almost all data will have been destroyed, although specialist tools are still be able to recover data.
Unless there is a reason to fully format the drive or erase absolutely all data (installation errors etc) a couple of quick formats normally clear the drive enough so that an operating system can be re-installed.
Unless there is a reason to fully format the drive or erase absolutely all data (installation errors etc) a couple of quick formats normally clear the drive enough so that an operating system can be re-installed.
1 - 6 of 6 Posts
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