Discussion How , when and where did you get your first virus and what was it ?

[MJS WARLORD]

Hello everyone , as you know i like to try and think up an original title for a topic of discussion every so often so this weeks topic is viruses.

I got my first virus in 2003 and can you believe i did not know or work with anyone who had got a pc so it was a case of plug it in and see what happens.
I turned it on and all the pre-installed programs worked out i was on the internet and they began to update themselves. Eventually a big green box came up on screen and said GATOR needs to update your system to continue.
I had no idea what to do so i just thought my system needed it , my pc died and it turned out i had got my first virus in less than 10 minutes.
My isp explained GATOR was the tops for distributing viruses at that time.
10 minutes use and i had to put my factory reset discs in and start again.

As you all know , compared to 20 years ago the internet has become a very dangerous place , one mistake and booom ! , i would hate to think i that i was a noobie and buying my first pc today.

 

[Colif]

I have never had one live on my system.

Closest I can do is an AV scan finding one on my PC in an old install folder for a file I never installed.
So I had the virus but it never had a chance.

At least buying a new PC today, windows 11 has Defender. Its not the best but it should protect most people from themselves unless they start disabling things, or clicking links in emails.

The number of people buying a PC today that have never used one before is getting smaller. Hard to find anyone like that who was born in 1st world. So a noob PC owner now won't be as in the dark as I was 22 years ago

 

[alceryes]

I don't really remember my first virus but it must have been sometime in the late 90s and most likely on purpose, for testing. By 2000, I had a 3.5" floppy (I called it my zoo) with at least a half dozen different virus executables on it. I would run them, separately, on test computers to see what they would do and examine how they functioned.
I still remember one of the visually 'coolest' viruses from that era. A customer brought in a Windows 98 computer and proceeded to tell my that his icons would 'run away' when he tried to click on them. Of course, I was immediately very curious. We booted up his system and, sure enough, when you moved the mouse to click on an icon it would move in the opposite direction that the mouse came from. He said that he's been 'getting by' with corraling all his icons into the bottom corner of his screen and then jumping in and quickly clicking while the icons scatter. He never know what he would get though. A simple safe mode scan fixed this one but I gained a new addition to my zoo that day.