Vista Clean Reinstall

[wontstart]

Hi,
Just looking for a bit of reassurance. My laptop has been hit with RansomWare (cryptolock) and other nasties. Fortunately all my important stuff is backed-up.
Question? If I do a clean reinstall of Vista will it clear ALL of this rubbish and leave no lingering traces? I've got all the required discs for Vista and the other programmes that were installed when I bought the laptop. I realise I'll lose everything on the C drive.
Thank you. Wontstart

 

[potshot]

provided you make sure you format the disk before you reinstall

 

[wontstart]

Hi potshot,
Thank you for your reply. Excuse my ignorance but I thought a reinstall would automatically re-format the disc?
Wontstart

 

[mattylad]

No, a re install is just that - a re install.
It could leave your data there.

As part of it you need to ensure that you format it again.
This can be accomplished during the install where it asks which partition to installation, simply select the partition and delete it, then create a new partition with the max space and it will format it.

Is there anything that you want backing up first?
A Linux boot disc might help to allow you to do that.

 

[cjard]

I'd recommend you take the opportunity to buy a copy of windows 7 off ebay (about 50 quid) and install that instead. It looks similar enough that it will be usable instantly but it's by far the better operating system. Vista was a generally well despised upgrade, partly because it was new and partly because some things it did were just plain wrong (eg it takes longer to calculate the time required to delete 10000 files than it would to just do the delete). Remember also that it's the next in line to be dumped by Microsoft.. While not necessarily a problem and windows xp will be the backbone of our health system for many years, every dog has its day and vista is definitely a dog

 

[wontstart]

Thank you to all who replied to my query. I have successfully restored my laptop.
Regards
Wontstart

 

[Herst1953]

It is good to hear that you got everything back to working the way you wanted. I have found that most often than not, just reverting back to an older position would clear up the issue itself. I would of course never recommend paying for the hijack software, that is how those scum stay in business.