Peter is correct. A proper complete format WILL wipe out everything.
There will be no remnants.
My thinking is that (1) your copy of WinXP may be from an OEM vendor who
adds stuff to it before reselling it to you or (2) you did not have a
firewall and antivirus program installed before you connected to the
internet for the first time with the new install. It is said that an
unprotected computer may be infected within less than a minute of
connecting to the internet.
Tony Mayer
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>No... Peter.. I did a complete/clean format. I had the company software
>people help me with it. So it was done correctly. And I never installed any of
>that stuff afterwards. So that's what makes me think some of the remnents
>were still in there. Especially since one of them I have never installed ever.
>==========================
>Formatting a disk will effectively delete all of your operating system,
>including the registry. If you did a clean install after formatting, then
>the entries you mention could only have gotten there by your installing that
>software again. On the other hand, if you got your operating system running
>again by doing a restore, then you formatting did not get rid of anything in
>your registry!
>
>Peter
>--------------------------
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>In reading this note from Al, reminded me of when I was looking at my
>Registry yesterday and noticed I still had McAfee, Norton's and some other
>firewall mess still in there, although I have formatted my HD. I would
>like to know if ALL stuff stays in there such as what Al mentioned before,
>and what good does it do to format if it's still hanging in there?
>
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