Spyware Warrior

[Nightmaretony]

had posted 5 days ago with a Hijack this log. Had a whole slew of viruses and rootkit fun from a friend staying at my place who practiced unsafe surfing (and setting the guest account to admin privileges, no less) No reply ijn 5 days,. I tried throwing a bunch ofantivurs and rootkit gigs at it. Seemed to help but this morning, plenty came back in full fury as well as killing the internet connection entirely.

Anyhoo, it looks like I will need to wipe out and start all over. Tons of stuff am scared of losing.

The question is: I have it made for several partitions, got a tiny unused linux partition. Plajnning to install XP with firefox and some utilities and a DVD burner program. The idea being to move all data and programs I can to backup before doing a complete wipeout.

QUESTION: I am thinking that the rootkits and such on the main partition shouldnt run on the virginal XP because they would only be checked and cleaned and backed up after checking, but not actually run. Are there viruses and rootkits that can dive right in and attach even when those files aren't being run?

Am pretty sure this is a safe course of action but I wanted to double check before I proceed. Also, what utilities for protection are best recommended for this virginal partition?
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