Partions and viruses

Wasnt sure quite where to put this but because i reformated on my dell its goin here. just a quick question if i happen to download something with a virus onto a seperate partion could it spread to my other one or is it acutally like having 2 hard drives?

 

It depends on whether you have run the file you downloaded. As long as the infected file hasn't been run, it won't affect your computer. But as soon as you open the file, the code gets executed, and the virus will embed itself in your operating system no mater what partition it is on. If you've done that, you will need to run an anti-virus program (I recommend AVG anti-virus, which is free).

 

i have a spare partion the dell restore one that i deleted and reformated so i though that if i am going to download anything i sould put it on there just in case. I had something happen to my other computer and it wiped out the hard drive that i had saved everything on to. I ended up unplugging it since it was small and i didnt care much, but that is why im asking the virus i got before only affected the second hard drive which was nice because it probably would have deleted everything on my main hard drive with my operating system and all my programs. By the way i do have norton