When things seem unfixable otherwise.
I run into this so often I want to record it for posterity:
Malware does not physically harm your computer.
You do not need to get a new hard drive because of malware. You do not need to buy a new machine because of malware.
You just don't.
Here's why.
Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!
Getting a new computer to fix malware
Malware is just software stored on your hard disk. All software, including malware, can be erased. In the worst case, a reformat and reinstall of Windows, your apps, and your data will get rid of malware, and is close to what you'd do if you purchase a new machine. Save your money.
Malware is just software
Malware (viruses, spyware, bots, ransomware, or whatever) doesn't hurt your computer's hardware or your hard drive. Even with the worst of malware infestations, the computer is fine.
Malware is software -- nothing more, nothing less. And software can be erased.
That means malware can be erased.
Erasing malware
I absolutely admit, it may not be pretty. You may have to erase Windows, your applications, and your data files, but none of that involves replacing hardware.
At worst, it means reinstalling Windows and your applications from scratch and restoring your data.
If you're prepared with good backups, it can be as simple as restoring a backup image created before the infection.
And yes, you can sometimes remove malware using anti-malware tools and manual procedures. But if the thought of new hardware has entered your mind, I'd guess that approach didn't work. Oh, well. The next step is to erase your hard drive and start over.
But shelling out money on a new machine or hard drive should never be the knee-jerk reaction to malware, no matter how bad the infection. Erasing everything on your current machine is essentially like getting a new machine anyway.
If you're looking for an excuse and you really want a new machine, get yourself a new machine. If you want a bigger hard drive, get a bigger hard drive. You don't have to do either of those things because of malware. That's just wrong.1
BIOS infections
There is one class of malware infection that can potentially affect your BIOS (or UEFI) -- the software that loads the operating system from disk, among other things, and is stored in a chip on your computer's motherboard. It's often referred to as "firmware" because it's software stored directly in hardware.
However:
- The chances are extremely small that malware affected your computer's BIOS.
- BIOSs are software. This means most BIOSs can be "erased" and reset.
So it's extremely unlikely to happen, and it's extremely unlikely that it can't be reset.
That your BIOS might be affected is another conclusion you should never jump to.
Do this
Even if you're paying someone else to do the work, the worst-case scenario -- reinstalling everything from scratch -- is still generally cheaper than purchasing a new machine. If you did purchase a new machine you'll still have to reinstall all of your applications, and you'll still have to recover your data from backups -- just as you would if you simply reformatted and reinstalled.
You may have a newer, shinier, faster machine, but you'll also have less money.
And it doesn't have to be that way.
I'll say it again:
Malware does not physically harm your computer.
You do not need to get a new hard drive because of malware, and you do not need to buy a new machine because of malware.
Save your money.
Speaking of money, this is completely free! Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
Podcast audio
Related Video
Footnotes & References
1: It might be convenient, if you have to set up your existing machine all over anyway; it’s just not required.
Leo, I agree with your assessment of unit replacement. Like you, I have often seen people go out at the first sign of a malware problem and purchase a new unit. Then the next step is to throw the old unit in the trash or give it away. There are, to me, only two reasons that the purchase of a new unit should be considered. First, if the unit is diagnosed with hardware problems that repair cost will equal 50% or greater the purchase price of a new unit. Second, if the unit does not have sufficient resources to support a major Microsoft operating system upgrade. Of course, for those units there is always an alternative enabled by the use of one of many distributions of Linux that are available. Ubuntu is the most popular choice. For units with extremely limited resources, Puppy is a good alternative. Thanks for all that you do for all of us. We sincerely appreciate all your efforts and hope that you and your family have a really great holiday season.
What’s worse, if you do buy a new machine, odds are you’ll make exactly the same mistake you made on the OLD machine, and the new machine will be infected in the same way. Lather, rinse, repeat…
Thank you. You have stopped me from thinking I need a new machine, when I haven’t got the money to buy one anyway.
You do a marvellous job and I thoroughly enjoy reading your articles. Performing a public service whilst so many others are trying hard to sell us things we don’t really need. Thank you again!
Not trying to be a smart a$$ or maybe i am, but Malware could given the right circumstances cause hardware damage (ask the Iranian’s about Stuxnet). Closer to general user reality malware could drive a CPU to overheat and possible cause damage.
On a properly designed personal computer not trying to control external hardware like nuclear plants, malware will not harm hardware. It’s not something the average consumer need worry about at all.
Leo, you wrote:
“In the worst case, a reformat and reinstall of Windows, your apps, and your data will get rid of malware, and is close to what you’d do if you purchase a new
machine. Save your money.”
Yes, but Leo, while “a reinstall of Wundows, your apps, and your data” is “close to what you’d do if you purchase a new machine,” it’s also doing it with an OLD version of Windows, OLD versions of apps, and all on an OLD machine!
If you’re really going to start afresh, doesn’t it also make sense to start anew as well — meaning, with a new machine…?
That’s a completely different argument than saying you NEED to do it to get rid of malware.
As I said in the article, if you want a new machine, get a new machine. Just don’t feel like it’s needed to get rid of malware.
Microsoft has the latest version of WIndows available for anyone to download and install, so you’re not stuck with an older version. In fact, it’s likely that you’ll get a newwer version than you have before reinatalling.
Hopefully, I’m as prepared as possible for any malware event that could possibly occur to my computers. I have a desktop (my primary driver) and two laptops (one ‘inherited’ from my beloved wife and my primary, a Lenovo Legion 5).
I use the Microsoft Security suite that comes with Windows 10/11 as my primary anti-malware suite and I have the free version of Malware-bytes installed.
I use Macrium Reflect to do scheduled backups (a full image backup every Monday and daily differential backups every other day of the week, so a backup set consists of one full image and six differential images. I keep 4 weekly backup sets so I can get back to the state my computer was in on any of the past 28 days).
On the first Monday of each month, one PC at a time, I perform a full system scan (first with Microsoft/Windows Security then with Malware-bytes) to insure nothing bad has happened, then I delete the previously saved full image backup for that PC from my Google drive storage space and copy the new one there so I have a known good/safe image for each PC that could not have been affected by malware.
I have a copy of the installed UEFI/BIOS image for all three of my PCs (a desktop and two laptops), each stored on its own flash drive. I keep these drives with my stack of most important drives/data in a locked box in my computer room/office.
These are the steps I’ve taken to be as prepared for anything that could happen to my PCs. I hope what i have done helps others to be prepare for catastrophy,
Ernie