Windows 7 Hard Drive Wipe

[Spaceboy_79]

Hello,

I have a Windows 7 machine that is currently running really slow. There might be malware on the machine, but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not anything is there. I was thinking about wiping the hard drive, and reloading Windows 7 again. My question is; what's the best way to remove the malware from the hard drive? Would a simple reformat do the trick, or should I wipe it by using dban, and starting from scratch? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[RealBeast]

You don't really need to DBAN it, just a simple unpartition, repartition and format should take care of anything.

I usually try running the free version of Kaspersky Rescue disk 10 -- you boot from it and it works quite well to clean the drive if you let it update to the latest database.

You can get the ISO version HERE, and I said it is freeware that relies on a Linux kernel and will not harm your Windows install.

Then I run an AV, and other malware stuff just to check but usually Rescue Disk does the job, although sometimes the registry damage is too great and you need to reinstall, but the offending malware is gone.

Also, check that a ton of bloatware didn't get installed as it often tags along with legitimate programs and all the additional processes can kill performance. Look in the Programs control panel for unfamiliar stuff and delete if not Microsoft related.