[GRLUG] Free DELL with several VIRUS'

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Topher wrote:
>> I received a Free DELL with Several VIRUS' and am planning on loading 
>> Ubuntu. If I just do the install will it get rid of everything on the 
>> drive (like the virus and M/S), or is there something I should do before 
>> the install?
>>     
>
> When doing the install it'll ask you to partition it, and it'll use fdisk. 
> If you install on the entire disk, and don't dual boot, it'll completely 
> wipe all the MS stuff off there.
>
> It's *possible* you could have a BIOS virus, but that's another issue 
> altogether.
>   
Yeah, it's unlikely, and most of them try to reinfect the hard drive 
with a virus. They aren't going to be too successful though if the hard 
drive is all EXT3 and there aren't any FAT32 or NTFS partitions to write 
to. Reflashing the BIOS could help if there is one...