4
I've recently read that the data that you deleted in windows using shift+del doesn't actually get deleted it is just made to be overwritable by other data that will soon be stored in your hard drive. And just marked as deleted. And there are some articles like this: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15037/use-an-ubuntu-live-cd-to-securely-wipe-your-pcs-hard-drive/ that shows how to completely wipe out the hard drive of all the data. And thus the data can't be recovered even by the most advanced software for recovering deleted data.
Now my question is, does spyware, virus or other harmful really are lost forever if you reformat your drive?
In light of information we now have due to the Snowden leaks, this answer is no longer accurate and could be misleading. We now know that sophisticated techniques exist and are actively used, for malware to survive a reformatting, and that this is not just limited to the MBR, or even the hard drive. The drive's firmware, or the computer's BIOS, are both viable targets. Furthermore, any attempt to format the MBR which is made from the infected machine, should not be relied upon. – Jon Bentley – 2015-04-28T17:09:32.020
boot-sector viruses are an important part of the picture which was left out of the accepted answer. Granted, you don't see too many of these, but they do exist, and you should at least be aware of this possibility. – eidylon – 2010-04-20T03:14:30.740
1thanks, this enlightened me. I never knew this kinds of virus exist – Wern Ancheta – 2010-04-20T06:24:50.690