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> Would you feel safe picking up a random USB drive and running the programs on it? Sure, why not? Just don't run it on the same computer that you access your

• mikewarot 6y ago
  You could spend $20, but then never trust that computer again... it gets expensive, even at $20/pop... when it used to be the time to copy a floppy. It really isn't the same. You always have to worry these days. It's similar to the fact that going into a crowd was no big deal in the past, but now it is.
  • boring_twenties 6y ago
    Why $20/pop? Just reuse the same untrusted computer for all untrusted things? Not to mention, sticking random floppies in your main computer was never exactly safe to begin with. The heydey of the Michaelangelo virus was 1991, if memory serves.
    • mikewarot 6y ago
      >Why $20/pop? Just reuse the same untrusted computer for all untrusted things? Because the hardware could have something planted in it... and if what you're tinkering with turns out to be useful, then what? Then you have to spend $20 for another computer that you can trust with that one little thing. Yes, in the days of MS-DOS, there were virii spread by floppy disk, but those could be guarded against fairly easily. You could always start fresh with a clean copy of your OS and use it to clean up the mess. A better way is to have an OS that protects the hardware, and itself. Then you can have a single computer for everything, without having to trust any piece of application code, ever.