how do staples and best buy remove spyware or malware?

do they run a program like spybot SD, malwarebytes, or do they simply just format the drive and reinstall windows?

my guess is to save time and to make sure the malware is completely gone, they format and reinstall windows. since time is money, and I've personally spent up to 6 hours or more removing spyware using a program, I'm guessing the big name retail stores won't spend this much time on one PC. what do you all think?

I've read the only way to make sure malware is 100% gone is to format and reinstall. is this true?

thoughts?

No , it is not true. I would never let Brest Buy Geek Squad touch my PC. I have one of the disks that they use and it is full of just ordinary anti virus , anti malware tools.

Malwarebytes is a great tool to use. I have not used Spybot S&D for years so I do not know about it.

Golden said:

macgig said:

I've read the only way to make sure malware is 100% gone is to format and reinstall. is this true?

thoughts?

It depends on the malware, but yes a format and reinstall is generally the safest and easiest way to ensure the malware is totally removed.

I disagree, it will 100 % remove your malware but is entirely unnecessary. A format/reinstall will fix anything.

The Greek squad here does indeed recommend a format / reinstall on most pc's. I often am brought machines that Staples has "Fixed" and am asked to recover lost data. There have been a few instances that they Did Not remove rootkits and the machine was reinfected at boot up. I also have a couple of their "disks" that is designed by Eurosoft out of the UK and it is indeed standard malware and virus tools. One of them actually looks like a modified Hiren's boot cd which I emailed Hiren's about and am going to upload the iso for them to see.

I agree. best buy and staples wont touch my pc. just wondering how they removed this stuff. interesting. thanks for the replies.

I removed spyware for a friend/client, but he's still having issues. so I'm trying to learn what I did wrong. I have a feeling some spyware was left behind. and I'm debating on whether to wipe the drive using a wipe program and reinstalling windows.

There are several things that can be easily missed. Clearing All Temp files, Removing and reinstalling Java and Adobe Flash, (Yes I recommend complete removal of both). Disabling Troublesome Addons and toolbars in all browsers. Clearing out restore points that are most likely corrupted by malware / spyware. The list goes on and on. You might not have done anything wrong either. I have customers that take a "Clean" machine (bootnuked and reinstall plus scanning backed up files and settings) go right back to the site that infected them or reinstall the malware because they were trying to get "free music" or Pron.

If ya need help I am sure that the Great People here can more than likely point you in the right direction. I have been doing computer repair for going on 20 years now. It changes almost daily.

If The fix for a malware infection is a reformat and reinstall then why even bother using a virus program. Just a waste of resources if the fix is to reformat. Seems kind of lame to me,