Spyware's lasting ability

No not a ridiculous question at all, lets see if I can answer, but first off what is HPA? ( guessing its a restore partition on a HP PC? )


Yes while reformatting and installing the operating system is a viable way of removing malware, it doesnt stop you from being infected again, to limit any infections a few things are needed,

1. Update your windows version on regular basis as well as your security software.

2. Follow this guide How to Protect yourself from malware!

a few apps I install from that list are:

Avast ( AntiVirus ) ~ but you can use whichever you have
ZoneAlarm ( Firewall ) ~ again you can use your prefered firewall
Spywareblaster ~ This helps to stop malware from being installed in the first place, it is not a scanner and will not remove.
Windows Defender ~ seems a good live malware scanner.
Ad-Aware ~ an on demand malware scanner which may pick up things Defender missed and also Defender may pickup things Ad-Aware missed so always worth having two scanners.
A2 ~ a specialist trojan/dialer/malware on demand scanner.... I just runthis once a month as a safty net.

3. User dilligence in not clicking every popup that appears on screen and practicing safe surfing, if you use p2p file sharing then you incewase your chances of contacting malware.

4. If you wish try a different browser to IE ( altho I use and have used IE for years with no issues ), either Opera, Firefox or Flock... Opera is my fav.