When you are a computer technician, you see Malware of all types and intensities. Some render computers almost useless unless you are in safe mode. In many instances, the
computer simply will not boot or you cannot access your file system. In a few cases, Trojans such as CryptoLocker will encrypt your most used files allowing no access to them at all. All these infections have one think in common; they did not do any damage to your physical computer.
Often times we will come across customers that want to run out and buy a new machine simply because their computer will not boot due to a virus infection. Unless your computer is 8 years old and has knobs falling off, this is usually not necessary. In fact in almost every case it is a total waste of money. In almost every case, you will be just fine even if a full reformat and re-install of Windows is in order. Remember, it is not a matter of if you will have to reformat but rather it is a matter of when you will have to reformat.
Folks will often have the wrong misconception when it comes to Malware. Malware is essentially simply a program. It might not be a program you want installed, but that is all it is. Like all programs, they can be erased from the hard drive without affecting any of the attached hardware on the computer.
Although it might not be without consequence, you can always reinstall all your software and programs and your computer will be like new, even after a horrific Malware infection.
There is a particular class of virus infections that can affect your BIOS chip on your motherboard. This type of infection is extremely rare and is not something that is encountered very often. The good news is that like your hard drive, a BIOS chip can be erased and flashed to remove the offending virus.
In every case, the best route to take is to call a reliable computer repair company and have the professionals decide on the best route to fix your machine. It does not matter what brand you have or what operating system you have, it will almost always be less expensive to have your computer repaired.
Having actual hardware problems on your computer might create a much different scenario. Although never caused by Malware, hardware failures can and do occur. Sometimes simple things like power supplies or RAM goes bad and the fixes are usually not all that expensive. Again, it is still less expensive to have the system repaired. If a hard drive goes bad, again it is a fixable scenario.
The worst things that can happen to a computer are a motherboard failure or a screen going bad on a laptop. When these types of things happen, it is often better to replace then to repair. With this type of repair you are often looking a good down payment on a new machine. This is usually the only time we would recommend a new machine over repairing the old one.
In short, most things that happen to a PC can be repaired for a lot less then a new machine. So keep using your favorite PC and do not let a big box store tell you that the virus infection is so bad that you should buy a new PC. That is just simply wrong.
Article by, Ross Deprey
In the past, it has been possible for malware to damage hardware in a number of ways. These were rare occurrences. Today, most, if not all motherboards, BIOSs, and other circuit boards have software and hardware set up to reject any incursion by malware.
One thing, Ross, that should be mentioned when this question is asked, even today, is malware that continuously writes to specific areas of a hard drive until that part of the drive fails. That is a true hardware failure.