This term originated within IT support and system administration communities, likely in the 1990s, as a dramatic way to describe a last-resort fix. Today, it is used to mean completely wiping a computer's hard drive and reinstalling the operating system from scratch to resolve persistent software issues, viruses, or corruption. Technicians typically resort to nuking and paving when troubleshooting fails, as it guarantees a clean slate but erases all user data. The structure combines "nuke" (to destroy completely) with "pave" (to lay down a fresh surface), forming a rhyming verb phrase that vividly contrasts total destruction with new construction.

Définition et signification de « nuke and pave » en anglais

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