Ubuntu – Cryptolocker virus

It's always a game of cat and mouse with detection software. New malware is created, scanners get updated to detect it. There's always a lag between the two. There are programs that use heuristics that watch what software is doing and attempt to catch unwanted activity but in my opinion it's not a perfect solution and uses resources.

My advice is simple, don't install software from sources you don't trust but if you are like me and can't avoid the temptation, put them in a virtual machine (ie virtualbox) and play with it until you're confident it won't either bork your system or do things you didn't want.

Again, not a perfect solution but for now, a virtual machine has the best chance of isolating your machine from unwanteds.

There are a few parts to the answer to your problem:

Threats don't transfer from one OS to another

Threats that work on Windows usually don't work on other OS (there might be some that do, but I have never heard of any) because they both work very differently. That way, a virus that looks for your C:\Windows\System32 folder on windows won't find it on Ubuntu as it doesn't exist.

Threats don't survive a total wipe of your hard drive

If you erase your hard drive and install a fresh Windows on top, any existing threats would have disappeared, as they are just regular programs. I don't know if best buy employees did a simple rollback to factory settings or a full re-install of windows, but in the case of the re-install, you shouldn't have had any remaining problem.

As a conclusion, no, your viruses won't transfer to Ubuntu. However, your problem might be related to hardware problems. If you still have issues with your Ubuntu, you might want to ask support to look at your hard drive and motherboard and see if there is any problem there.

Note: If you still have viruses after a 1st Windows re-install, you should seriously check if websites you visit regularly are not infected or install a better protection software.