Will upgrading to windows 10 from 8.1 remove the existing virus and malware..?

Question

I am using Windows 8.1 and I believe that it's been infected. I wanted to format it but I haven't backed up the files . will upgrading to windows 10 remove the virus ? Or is there any other way I can get rid of the virus..?

Solution

It may depending on the virus/s, but best practice is to clean the virus's first because even if the virus doesn't run at boot time, it will probably still be in the computer so you have to scan anyway. There's a few ways I use to do it, depending on how busy/lazy I am.

One is install an antivirus and scan the machine. This can sometimes be problematic depending on the virus. Sometimes best to install in safemode or even safemode with command prompt and scan like that.

My normal method is to pull the drive and use another machine to scan it. This tends to be the easiest way but you need another machine, and you need to make sure you have permissions on all the folders you need to scan.

Another way is to boot to a USB device and perform the scan without starting Windows.

Or if you know the virus, you can manually remove it in safe mode. This can be the fastest way with some virus's if you know exactly what you're doing.

Comments

[Admin]

Depends on the type of virus... Some viruses may not run correctly in Windows 10 (could depend upon functions from Windows 8). I would recommend getting maybe a malware scanner of some sort. Backing up your data and doing a fresh install (formatting drive) should clear the virus.