Can a virus survive a system reset?

[Spexels]

i recently downloaded some sketchy files from the internet, mid download my anti-viruses started to freak out, i immediately stopped the downloads and scanned my pc multiple times with norton and malwarebytes and got 0 results, I still got knew I had something on my pc and reset it, there was 2 options for windows 10, one is if your recycling it and one of your giving it away or something, I chose the latter, can a virus or malware survive that?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

There are viruses (BIOS) that can survive as reset but in your situation , I'm sure you wiped it out. They are extremely rare.

 

[SumTingW0ng]

There are viruses (BIOS) that can survive as reset but in your situation , I'm sure you wiped it out. They are extremely rare.

Some malware can create a hidden drive partition that can survive a system wiped out. Rootkit and Bootkit will survive a system wiped out for sure. Rootkit is now common nowadays, but for Bootkit I don't think they are commonly widespread as Rootkit to me.

Your best recommended option during a system reset is delete the current partition and wiped the drive completely. This way, any hidden partition created by malware or virus will be gone for good.

If Rootkit and Bootkit can survive the system wiped out, than I'm sure some malware and virus can survive too. It just depend if the malware or virus on your system can modify the MBR.

 

[kasiourasg]

In the end, viruses are nothing more than pieces of code and data. Wiping your whole drive, will also wipe the virus.

That is if the virus resides in your drive, there are some rare viruses that will reside in your BIOS. But, you shouldn't have to worry about that.