Clean PC or reinstall Windows?

My PC is not infected but I'd like to know what everyone else thinks regarding reinstalling Windows to rid yourself of malware.

At what point do you decide to simply backup your files and reinstall Windows?

Depending on how bad your PC is infected, you can spend several hours using NOD32 and researching and using various tools and solutions.....or.....you can spend a couple hours backing up your files, reinstalling Windows and various programs.

I personally think if you need to use several tools and spend as many hours to rid yourself of some type of malware you're better off just wiping everything off your hard drive and start off with a clean slate.

 

Any time there's suspicion that a pc has been compromised, whether by malware, or otherwise. That's my rule of thumb.

 

I have not formatted a PC due to an infection in almost 3 years now and I clean roughly 20 a week.

 

Depends of the type of infection . If it is serious infection I always prefer to do a fast backup and reinstall.The most secure one.

If it is not so dangerous infection I do my best , analyze files/entries , scan with NOD32 and other tools to ensure there is nothing left.The computer is also strictly observed for suspicious actions for some time.

Although I prefer reinstallation some times , there are times where I have no choice . Some clients insist on not reinstalling and just cleaning , or simply there is no way to back-up info . I have some cases where I have spent whole day/two days to clean all the crap the computer has caught and to restore Windows after that.