I'm curious about the safety of reusing a USB stick that I used for a clean install of Windows 11. Could there be malware lingering on the flash drive that could affect my PC, even if my computer wasn't infected when I created the bootable USB?
3 Answers
It's pretty unlikely that there's any malware unless you messed up the formatting process. A boot sector virus could be a concern, but most antivirus software, including Windows Defender, should catch that. As long as you know how to format it, you should be okay!
If your PC wasn't infected when you created the bootable USB, then using that USB stick should be fine. Just make sure to always practice safe computing!
If you're worried about anything being on the USB stick, you can use Diskpart to wipe it completely. Also, remember to disable autoplay options in Windows settings to prevent any unwanted actions when you plug it in.
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