lol I remember copying game shortcuts on desktop on my flash drive thinking I'll get the game at home
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bonzibuddy would be a welcome change from all this ai bullshit that's getting thrown at us.
Bonzibuddy was classified as malware for collecting user information and using deceptive ads. I never used it myself but I'd bet it's downright tame compared to the shit considered normal business practice nowadays.
We all learn from our mistakes, that's why people who previously pirates make an easy guide
the computer pic is ai slop :(
I wish I got bonzi buddy instead of a virus that copy pasted itself into multiple directories on Win 98se, restoring itself whenever a copy got deleted. That was quite the challenge for 9 year old me to clean the family PC before mom got home from work. Limewire gets all the hate but most of mine came from Real Player! Little me thought Real Player software was legit because of their video codec I always saw anime rips using. No. Nope.

Oh yeah, I got that too though DC++ local server. It was "Game_Name trainer.exe" whereas name could be not even from a PC game, but a PS2 exclusive. That shit would generate tons of 1kb exe files of other games in folders like Movies, Music, Downloads and Games, and would slow the fuck down my XP booting speeds if I deleted all of them prior reboot.
Thankfully didnt stole/removed/encrypted anything off my PC.
My worst case wasn't even my piracy.
At my previous job (like 15+ years ago now), the owner asked me to fix his daughter's laptop.
So I went about doing that.
And stupidly, I connected it to the network, and within minutrs, people were complaining the network was down.
The laptop was apparently blasting out so much spam, the ISP blacklisted us and blocked us.
So I just always find it funny some pirates around some communities, get such an egotistical stroking of themselves when they make bold claims as to not having screwed up. They did, just don't want to mention it.
To be fair, it was pretty easy to not screw up with early piracy. Just don't download or run any executables and you were pretty much safe. Back in the day, you didn't even need a VPN. I've screwed up far more recently than I did back then.
My favorite screw up was the time my mom got a C&D for me pirating the movie "Law Abiding Citizen". Awful movie but if I still had that letter I would frame it.
Also modern piracy: "Don't even try to use our private tracker system,"
To be fair, a lot of adults were doing this too back then. Especially when BonziBuddy was a thing. And thanks to them, is why we openly accept programs with adware today. "hOw eLsE aER tHeY GuN mAkE moNeY FoR It?".
Nothing like tainting your os with infected executables masquerading as a codec pack
Hey that’s unfair, I deliberately wanted Bonzai buddy, it wasn’t a virus.
I shudder from the thought of what a petri dish the family computer was back then
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