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submitted 3 months ago by Maven@lemmy.zip to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev

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[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 221 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Haha I remember the days of downloading random EXEs off the internet and running them to see what they do (also the days of CD-rom drives).

My auntie somehow managed to get a virus that played Für Elise through the motherboard speaker and never stopped so long as the thing was on. I don't think they ever solved it, in the end they just got a new PC.

[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 157 points 3 months ago

That probably wasn't a virus.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2bs41z/til_that_if_your_bios_was_made_by_awardunicore/

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 84 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Holy shit, TIL!

[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

When I read it, it stirred a distant memory of hearing such a story before, so I knew that there was something behind it and looked it up.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 24 points 3 months ago

I’m impressed that the computer was usable with the failed CPU fan.

[-] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 3 months ago

Computers in 97 didn't need much in the way of cooling. A large passive heatsink was plenty for those CPUs. They're not the 300+ watt behemoths we have today.

[-] Pacmanlives@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I really remember heatsinks being a thing on overclocked systems around that time frame and then once we got to P4 cpus the chilling towers appeared those things were massive

[-] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 months ago

The lower power 486s didn't even need a heatsink. The P3 was the first to take a heasink resembling what we have today, but damn did the P4s need some serious cooling.

It's kinda funny how we think the 100 watts of a desktop P4 was insane when now the TDP of a high end laptop CPU is more than that.

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[-] psud@aussie.zone 8 points 3 months ago

I helped set up a friend's "586" (about equivalent to a Pentium 1) and he had neglected to buy a heat sink or fan

A hammer was a sufficient heat sink for the time it took to set up windows

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[-] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 3 months ago

Reminds me of the Apple version of Karateka, which did something special if you inserted the floppy disk upside down.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/5/22564151/karateka-apple-ii-upside-down-easter-egg

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[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 53 points 3 months ago

Drain.exe would say "water in drive a:, commencing spin cycle" then power up the drive and make a gurgling sound.

Sheep.exe ... would create a sheep that would wander the desktop.

[-] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 36 points 3 months ago

Haha, in highschool I put sheep.exes into the school labs startup folders as a prank once. A couple days later the tech teacher approached me and was like "nobody's in trouble but these things are a nightmare and if I have to reimage half the lab to get rid of them it would personally ruin my day". Somehow all the sheep were gone by the next day

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 13 points 3 months ago

Ah shit the sheep thing! In fact, there were others I can't remember. And I seem to remember somewhere along the line they went from fun to spam things walking around your screen trying to make you buy shit or maybe they were trying to scam you, I can't remember but they weren't fun anymore, and hard to get rid of.

[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

I remember an obscure one named "grommit" that was a dancing animated character and you'd click it to change arm and leg movements.

Bonzi buddy was over of the bad ones, maybe?

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Bonzai buddy! Yes, that was one. Also I seem to recall naked women ones you couldn't close.

I don't remember grommit, but also I failed to find anything when trying to search it up. It shares its name with too many things.

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[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

There was also a program that would open the CD-ROM drive and play a raspberry noise at random intervals. It was a fun prank to set it to run at login.

[-] morrowind@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 months ago

Motherboards have speakers?

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 48 points 3 months ago

Are you trying to make me feel old?

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.

[-] jaaake@lemmy.world 30 points 3 months ago

Back in my day, that used to be the only way a computer could produce sound. Later on you could purchase a specialized sound card that would take up a slot in your motherboard.

[-] jayknight@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago

I thought I was the cool kid when I got my SoundBlaster 16!

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

The anticipation as you figure out a new IRQ and DMA configuration so you could play with your new toy

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[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They do, but it’s a very simple speaker that’s really more of a buzzer than what you might think of as a speaker.

Many motherboards use a combination of beeps to report hardware errors if you fail on power on.

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[-] jaschen@lemm.ee 141 points 3 months ago

I remember there was a virus that had a tiny cat on the screen and it would chase your mouse cursor. Once it catches your mouse cursor, the computer would crash. It was freaking awesome.

[-] Vivendi@lemmy.zip 31 points 3 months ago

That's based on a harmless Unix game that you can install forks of which on modern day Linux as well, by the way

[-] DriftinGrifter 7 points 3 months ago

i have a vencord extension that does that

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 months ago

What's the name of the game?

[-] Bennieboj@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

Probably oneko: https://www.cyberciti.biz/open-source/oneko-app-creates-cute-cat-chasing-around-your-mouse/

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[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 99 points 3 months ago

man i miss these days.

These days not only would it open your CD drive, it would open your tax documents, your crypto wallet, your account cookies, probably even your banking information.

The modern internet fucking sucks dude.

[-] booly@sh.itjust.works 45 points 3 months ago

Oh don't worry, malicious .exe files were all over the forums back then.

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[-] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 10 points 3 months ago

Sub7 existed before 2000 if I'm not mistaken.

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[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 75 points 3 months ago

The "The Simpsons" "so far" meme where Bart says "this is the worst day of my life" and Homer "helpfully" responds "this is the worst day of your life so far." Only this one is captioned with "never mind it just opens the CD-ROM drive" and "it just opens the CD-ROM drive as far as you know."

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[-] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

Pretty sure this has been around since the mid 90s

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 22 points 3 months ago

Classics are timeless by definition. You witness the adolescence of culture.

[-] Kit 22 points 3 months ago

This was a common April Fools prank back in my day. We would put a startup script on a person's computer that opened their CD drive at random intervals. Drove them nuts!

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 22 points 3 months ago

I have a folder of "pranks" like these from way back and they were harmless but sure enough they fire off modern anti virus software.

[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 months ago

I made one called "crash_bandicoot.exe" that opened the windows calculator in an infinite loop.

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[-] DrGiltspur@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

How about the one that launched a dialog box: "Do you have a small penis? Yes/No", and if you moved your mouse near the "No" button, the button would run away around the screen?

Man, good times.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 months ago

Odd, that button always worked for me.

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[-] catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca 19 points 3 months ago

I remember a guy who tied his baby’s rocker to the drive and wrote code to open and close the CD drive repeatedly lol. Fun times.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 3 months ago

Hmm. Did the motor last? It's obviously not built to provide that much torque/force, although I can't say for sure it would be damaged by it.

[-] key@lemmy.keychat.org 19 points 3 months ago

That joke was constant in the early 00s.

[-] GreenPlasticSushiGrass@moist.catsweat.com 17 points 3 months ago

Did people download .exe files in 2006? We were so innocent.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 months ago

& .bat s & ZIPs

[-] Ballistic_86@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago

An old fashioned meme but it checks out

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 8 points 3 months ago

naw, what you do is write a small exe to play "youre the best" by joe espesito through the pcspeaker at 15% volume than you can trigger remotely..randomly until the user goes mad

"doesnt anyone else Hear that?!"

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