Hello all. Sorry in advance if I've posted this question in the wrong place.
My old PC got a virus that locked me out of all applications and the control panel. Since I was getting a new PC anyway, I just replaced the old OS (XP) with a copy of Ubuntu Linux.

Anyway, what I want to know is, have I done enough to make the hard drive safe to use? Will the virus still be lurking around (perhaps infecting other machines that I may come into contact with over the net) or have I done enough just by replacing the OS? Do I need to format the HD or anything?

Thanks in advance for any advice

hey laughing,

what do you mean replace the os? did you delete the OS and put Ubuntu on it?

Formatting would be the surest way to rid of the virus. Personally, i would have reinstalled XP using their formatting before install.

Before you do that, have you done any research on how to rid that particular virus?

@Joeyfine: Hey Joe I booted my PC from the cd tray instead of the hard drive. When I was asked if I wanted to install Ubuntu in a new partition I declined and dedicated the whole drive to the Linux OS. I did not delete the old OS or format the hard drive first.

@Scotty: Hello Scotty. I didn't have the XP disk as my PC was second hand (I think it was an illegal copy anyway so I'm not sorry to see the back of it.) Also, I have no idea what virus it was.