Does formatting the drive remove a rootkit?

[timothyschaldach]

I have a system on which I suspect there is a rootkit. Since I need to rebuild this computer anyway, I am planning to reformat the HDD and reinstall the OS. Will this get rid of the rootkit? Or do I need to do something on the HDD at an even lower level?

[forrest.swick]

Timothy,

I've found that unless you either boot from a Windows Repair CD and clean the MBR or do a DBAN of the computer harddrive that just reformating does not get rid of the rootkit.

--Forrest

[SpiritWind]

The Premier antirootkit program today is "GMER", available at http://www.gmer.net .

[Paul T]

To remove rootkits you need to boot from a CD, delete all partitions, re-partition and re-format.

cheers, Paul

[timothyschaldach]

Thanks, guys.

[physician97]

I have a system on which I suspect there is a rootkit. Since I need to rebuild this computer anyway, I am planning to reformat the HDD and reinstall the OS. Will this get rid of the rootkit? Or do I need to do something on the HDD at an even lower level?

Why do you think you have a rootkit?