lol I remember copying game shortcuts on desktop on my flash drive thinking I'll get the game at home
this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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My computer class teacher did the opposite
He claimed that you can delete all the big exe files, as they are not needed as just take up space
He'd love demonstrate it on the school computer, but it didn't boot right now, "for some reason"
He was not a good CS teacher
There is a folder on your PC containing lots of junk from the old 32 bit era that you don't need on modern PCs: system32.
So if you need some disc space ...
lmfao, I wonder if the school even check the teacher's background
I think he meant the installer files, not the actual .exe that launched the game, but who knows
yeah, I think he heard the shortcut thing somewhere and completely misunderstood it.
tbf, this is now 25 years ago, so computers were still quite a novelty in regular schools, let alone have teachers that know about them. I think he was just a math teacher before
Thanks for reminding me, I did that on a floppy disk once and was so proud at first...
Thats how you learn I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TBH didn't it work at some point? Boots up Rodent's Revenge
I think there are games that are simply a single .exe file, so copying that does work, I think I have one in Windows XP era and just left it on the desktop for easy access lol
Kind of relieved to see I wasn't the only one who did this!
I remember for my birthday one year I wanted the Sega CD Memory card/cartridge thing. It was literally just a memory card BUT I thought it was some magical tool, officially licensed/made by Sega mind you, where I could then go to blockbuster and rent games and it would then SAVE those games...in their entirety...to the memory cartridge. thus allowing me to have a bunch of games without paying full price for them. This is what I believed the thing did. that was my birthday present. a memory card.
Those kinds of things existed in Japan. The Famicom Disk System is probably the most notable example, but I think there were equivalents for the 16-bit consoles
I did that for a friend when he asked me to share my copy of Minecraft with him, holy shit
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.
Maybe the BonziAI has been in control of google for years.
Yes I do want more animal facts Buddy!
Gets lied to about animals
We all learn from our mistakes, that's why people who previously pirates make an easy guide
the computer pic is ai slop :(
Is your keyboard not a bunch of asymmetrical keys melded together?
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!
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.
Also modern piracy: "Don't even try to use our private tracker system,"
I'm convinced that private trackers are the pirating equivalent to snipe hunting.
Like, I'm sure they exist, but mostly just for sake of trolling casuals who aren't willing to spend hours and hours min-maxxing their client and torrent list.
Sherk goes hard though
I was lucky to have a mac because I tried opening a lot of yourfile.exe's
Nothing like tainting your os with infected executables masquerading as a codec pack
Yupp I always use a separate system for piracy and anyone that doesn't is absolutely playing with fire.
This is me still accidentally downloading cam versions of movies.
Hey that’s unfair, I deliberately wanted Bonzai buddy, it wasn’t a virus.
Nah you're just a bug chaser
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?".
I remember getting a barrotes infection but I think it came in a floppy.
I shudder from the thought of what a petri dish the family computer was back then