Check if any data remains on other disks or HDDs after a Windows reinstall.
Check if any data remains on other disks or HDDs after a Windows reinstall.
Regarding security, I advise trusting the odds. Those who truly aim to access systems—whether one or multiple—usually succeed if they have the right skills. Single or combined approaches work too. Defcon discussions can also offer useful insights into such behavior.
I searched for persistent malware after a reinstall and came across this article. It confirms the findings you mentioned.
If the virus has compromised your BIOS/UEFI or embedded itself in your hardware firmware, reinstalling Windows won’t fix the problems. It will simply reinfect your system again. You’ll have to re-flash the firmware or BIOS/UEFI. Back then, a virus at this severity meant replacing the whole hardware. Cleaning it up was either unfeasible or too costly for an individual.
Raise the price of the sole treatment by a factor of one hundred.
Consider a second drive or partition as a detachable pen drive. This device is unaffected by the machine it connects to, just like the virus. While your system partition or drive can start clean, any contact with a drive or partition will eventually spread and affect everything (or certain areas).
A virus that copies its executable onto other drives will endure a basic C Drive format and reinstallation. It is improbable to start itself unless you interact with it (autoplay doesn't apply). The malware might be hidden, or sophisticated threats could infect genuine documents. When recovering important files, proceed carefully and think about using a Linux Live Boot to avoid activating any hidden viruses during removal. If the data is highly valuable, a specialist might help minimize the chance of loss. Should none of the other partitions contain critical files, erase everything completely.
It's possible. Malware like viruses and worms can move between partitions, which is why a reliable antivirus app plus regular backups (cloud, wired, or NAS) are essential. I don't agree with that idea. According to what I've learned, when a file goes to the servers—such as One Drive or Google Drive—it gets stored in several locations. That means even if malware attempts to infect your PC, your files remain accessible.