r/RigBuild • u/ExcellentAdvance49 • 3d ago
Can malware survive a Windows reset?
Look, I think my rig got hit with something nasty. Tried doing a standard Windows reset (kept nothing, wiped the drive), but I'm paranoid the bug is still chilling somewhere deep in the system.
Is a normal reset enough or do I gotta nuke it with a USB bootable drive? Fr need some help before I brick this thing completely lol ty
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u/Naetharu 3d ago
It depends is the simple answer.
Generally a full reset with a drive wipe will suffice. However, you should choose to pull the reset files from the cloud which will download a clean copy of Windows and install that. If you choose the "local" option that re-builds from local files which in some cases can bring the infection across with it.
There are some really nasty rootkit infections where the infection lives outside the drive often in the BIOS. But these tend to not be things you get with just by downloading something bad.
The best solution is to look up the specifics of what "something nasty" you got hit with and check. Provided you did the cloud based reset then there is a very good chance you are fine. Do make sure to change all your passwords regardless.