X64 and XP - 2 partitions - will virus on one affect the other?

[detrunks]

This is probably a newbie question but I have to ask!!
I have 1 HDD with 2 partitions. One has X64 and the other has XP. If the XP partition has a virus (or malware etc..) will it also infect the other partition?

 

[N3051M]

dont think so.. virus usualy runs as a program within the current os, you will have to activate it on the other for it to work.. but 64 and xp runs with different executeing methods (i think) with one running 32bit the toher runing as 64 bit..

i might be wrong.. lets just see what the other guys that run x64 says first...

 

[Didou]

It depends on the virus. Certain ones once launched, will look for all the files it can find that it can infect & if programmed a certain way, it can do such a search on all your available drives.

 

[Tedster]

most viruses are 32 bit based. I doubt the virus is sophisticated enough to cross over, but there is always a possibility. Get rid of the virus!

 

[detrunks]

seems fair enough to me!

thx for the advice - in the event I did manage to get rid of the virus