Right now, my hard drive consists of C which contains Windows XP and various installed applications, D which holds all my data, and E & F currently empty.
I may reformat again soon and resize the partitions. What I need to know is:
(1) Can I put just the OS on C, data on another partition, and my applications on another so that if I decide (or have to) reformat C I won't have to reinstall all the applications again? (I do realize the importance of backing up the data beforehand--just "in case").
(2) If I became infected with a virus, worm, or trojan in the future, does it or can it infect other partitions or just the primary partition that contains the OS? I assume it can, but if a scan showed it was just infected on C, then if I couldn't elimiate it completely, I could just reformat C and not have to worry about the other partitions?
I may reformat again soon and resize the partitions. What I need to know is:
(1) Can I put just the OS on C, data on another partition, and my applications on another so that if I decide (or have to) reformat C I won't have to reinstall all the applications again? (I do realize the importance of backing up the data beforehand--just "in case").
(2) If I became infected with a virus, worm, or trojan in the future, does it or can it infect other partitions or just the primary partition that contains the OS? I assume it can, but if a scan showed it was just infected on C, then if I couldn't elimiate it completely, I could just reformat C and not have to worry about the other partitions?