WillINeedIt.com - Finding The Best, So You Don't Have To

this is the shit

Till your instructor says, "You should have had backups. Sorry!"

Could just use, on most *nix systems,

"cat /dev/random > somefile.whatever"

Of course, if you can use that, you also don't need antivirus software. :)

I remember doing this back in high school. Teachers were a bit dumber back then though, we just made a html file with a javascript alert with a few error-looking messages and a close, then named it work.doc.html

Error reported in work.doc at 0x1ff38ea unknown page file
Error reported in work.doc at 0x0000000 destination unknown
Errors reported in work.doc. Microsoft Word will now close

Exit it after the messages and they never seemed to catch on that it was internet explorer.

I would like to thank zero for informing us that AVG is spyware. Although most people have no idea of what spyware actually is. The term originated to describe processes that collected information about your computer usage (generally without your consent or knowledge) and then gave that information to the creator or a designated collection point and then used the information as a basis for advertisement. However, AVG and most free programs clearly state that they collect information, however in the case of AVG the information collected is about what malware your computer has become infected with, and from where in order to create a more up to date database. Without collecting information from the end user a virus database would be very difficult and costly to maintain, and updates would not have the most recent threats listed.

Zero is right on one point however, anti-virus software for the most part is pretty useless, most of the malicious code out on the net today is malware of another kind. A virus is a specific kind of malware that describes self replicating and destructive process. Most malicious software today is aimed at making money from the infected machine either through selling the information collected or perhaps decieving the end user to believe they have a virus infection like the oft seen "antivirus 2009" clones that appear, and then prod the user into buying their product that removes the code that was placed on the machine by them. And most MOST of the malicious software is simply annoying but destructive is rare.

I am not a software engineer, so my understanding of how the code works is limited. However on a daily basis I repair machines that become infected to a point that the machine is no longer usable. I use several software tools and occasionally the repair requires (for time's sake) a re install of the entire operating system. However, I certainly would suggest that people keep at least some kind of protection on their machine. AVG is not my favorite, I prefer avast! for it's real time scanner and the ability to do a boot time scan and memory scans. However AVG is not a bad program. Although I can't say that anti virus software is not in some regards spyware, the fact that the code is not malicious and that it only collects information in a very limited scope to ensure better protection means that it is not a bad thing to have. I've seen far more problems caused by symantecs products than any other except perhaps internet explorer and AOL.

AVG and Avast! both have free and paid versions available, the money is made by people getting "extra" protection and buying those add-on processes. Without the free versions few people would be likely to buy them when well known anti-virus software has been dominating the market for nearly a decade. AVG is a business, and it makes money because it's product works.

/rant

I noticed in the screenshot that the user has AVG installed, I would highly suggest a reformat of your PC, as AVG (anti-virus, internet security, etc) are all forms of spyware. If you are one of the millions of users that have fallen prey to their "come download me, I'm the BEST free alternative", I apologize for your lack of knowledge.

Or you could just open the file on notepad, delete a few lines from the top (the header) and save it...

i lold

Tell me about it. This sort of thing might not work with teachers etc anyway, they would simply blame you for not saving it properly.

It seems that people often spend more effort trying to get out of doing shit than it would take to them to just do it in the first place.