Need to wipe my hard drive

[Master Rudy]

Ok one of my computers is on the verge of dying because it's loaded with viruses and spyware. At this point all I can do is bite the bullet and wipe it because all attempts to run, update or install new virus scanners or spyware removal programs are met with heavy resistance. I've got an XP CD that I'm ready to use but I need to know what steps I need to take in order to do a full wipe on the HD so I can have a 100% clean install without any risk of something lingering.

[mr_pikachu]

I had to do the same thing last year. You should be okay if you use the XP CD. There would be a slight risk of something lingering if you had to use the restore procedure stored on the system itself, as that could be corrupted as well. I don't think there's anything that would screw with the CD's restore process, though. As long as you're able to run the drive, you should be fine.

[Master Rudy]

Well if this gives an idea as to how royally fucked the system is when I try to accress the task manager my computer tells me that it's been disabled by the system administrator. As I said before when I try to download new scanners or update my current one the system tells me the download must be aborted or Windows will shut itself down. Finally Spybot S&D pops up asking for the system password to access the scanner. Whatever is in the system stops my every attempt to get rid of it (hence the reason why I want to do a full wipe)

In other words how is running a system restore off the CD going to help me?

[Jeff]

When you reinstall the OS it replaces all the system files on the hard drive, so whatever corrupted them gets killed. If you really want to make sure it's gone, you can back up your files, format the hard drive, and install on a fresh drive.