4 ms·

I remember installing this on my Mom's computer when I was 8 and my dad cussing trying to uninstall it. good times.

elliekelly 7y ago
Same! I’m pretty sure my parents just accepted that the BonziBuddy website would be the homepage on the family computer whether we liked it or not. In hindsight I wonder what other, less obvious, malware I installed as a clueless kid with free reign internet access.
- tombert 7y ago
  I had BonziBuddy, CometCursor, a toolbar for something called "Slotch.com", and RealPlayer (after they updated it to try and take over your computer) installed on my personal laptop as a kid, and always wondered why other people's computers went so slow when my computer had a newer CPU. God,
  - silversconfused 7y ago
    Cometcursor being so horrible inspired me to learn how to make .ico files with transparency in mspaint.... good times!
jakejarvis 7y ago
Ditto! For some reason I used to think the more tray icons the better. But not as bad as when I tried to delete C:\Windows before it would try to stop you. (For science, of course.)
- derefr 7y ago
  When I was a youngin', I used to create meaningless shortcuts all over the desktop using those PIFMGR icons (https://i.stack.imgur.com/I1YqC.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/I1YqC.jpg). I think kids and adults aren't so different; we all just really want to collect and stare at colorful juicy berries—er, "apps"—on our screens (re: the research that turning them greyscale makes us look at them less.) Adults just have a greater need for rationalization toward practicality on top of an entirely aesthetic desire, and thus download apps with nice icons (or toolbars containing nice icons) that seem like they'd do something useful... and then just never use them.
  - bscphil 7y ago
    Oh my, I completely forgot about this. I would change all the icons for the shortcuts on my desktop to "better" ones from this list too. Good times.
- k__ 7y ago
  On my first PC, when I was 10, had a Norton Commander that gave me way too much power. I found C:\ to be a mess, so I moved all files into a System folder. I used the PC once a week or so, so when I started it again a week later I had no memory of what I did and it just wouldn't boot anymore.

Same! I’m pretty sure my parents just accepted that the BonziBuddy website would be the homepage on the family computer whether we liked it or not. In hindsight I wonder what other, less obvious, malware I installed as a clueless kid with free reign internet access.

tombert 7y ago
I had BonziBuddy, CometCursor, a toolbar for something called "Slotch.com", and RealPlayer (after they updated it to try and take over your computer) installed on my personal laptop as a kid, and always wondered why other people's computers went so slow when my computer had a newer CPU. God,
- silversconfused 7y ago
  Cometcursor being so horrible inspired me to learn how to make .ico files with transparency in mspaint.... good times!

jakejarvis 7y ago

Ditto! For some reason I used to think the more tray icons the better. But not as bad as when I tried to delete C:\Windows before it would try to stop you. (For science, of course.)

derefr 7y ago
When I was a youngin', I used to create meaningless shortcuts all over the desktop using those PIFMGR icons (https://i.stack.imgur.com/I1YqC.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/I1YqC.jpg). I think kids and adults aren't so different; we all just really want to collect and stare at colorful juicy berries—er, "apps"—on our screens (re: the research that turning them greyscale makes us look at them less.) Adults just have a greater need for rationalization toward practicality on top of an entirely aesthetic desire, and thus download apps with nice icons (or toolbars containing nice icons) that seem like they'd do something useful... and then just never use them.
- bscphil 7y ago
  Oh my, I completely forgot about this. I would change all the icons for the shortcuts on my desktop to "better" ones from this list too. Good times.
k__ 7y ago
On my first PC, when I was 10, had a Norton Commander that gave me way too much power. I found C:\ to be a mess, so I moved all files into a System folder. I used the PC once a week or so, so when I started it again a week later I had no memory of what I did and it just wouldn't boot anymore.