Keyloggers and reformatting

[Jerevon]

I don't think I ever had a keylogger, I never had account issues before. However, I did a format and reinstall, but I use the quick format to cut the time down.

So, the question is, can keyloggers or similar things persist though a quick format? My HDD was 50% full before format, OS is Windows XP Pro.

[AmoebaCowboy]

The difference between quick format and a full format doesn't matter if a keylogger was software-based, either way it's gone. A full format removes everything then scans the disk for bad sectors (which is why it takes longer), a quick format removes everything but does not perform the sector scan.

If it is a BIOS-based keylogger you're still hosed and would require re-flashing the BIOS. There are also hardware-based keyloggers which would be unaffected by format/re-installation of your OS or flashing the BIOS.

[Theboz]

I don't think I ever had a keylogger, I never had account issues before. However, I did a format and reinstall, but I use the quick format to cut the time down.

So, the question is, can keyloggers or similar things persist though a quick format? My HDD was 50% full before format, OS is Windows XP Pro.


What type of issues are you talking about and why would you be scared of a keylogger, when you dont even think you had one before.

If you did a reformat, like what the above poster said, everything is gone, to some extent, you can still recover files from a reformat, but programs or anything wil not work after a reformat of the harddrive.