Funware?

What is funware? It’s malware but without the bad rep. I love to create fun scripts and files to prank my friends. Whether that be shutting off their computer or RRS’ing (Rick-Roll Spamming) their web browser to kingdom come, anything that is light-hearted and not intended to cause reprimandable damage is the way I like to play. Sure one could say it is ‘malware’ but that has a bad connotation. So I call it “Funware”!

Here’s an example:

At first glance, it appears to be just a regular hangman game you’d play in your terminal. It is, for the most part. If you guess all the letters correctly, you win. If you guess one letter incorrectly your browser will repeatedly open the Rick Astley song “Never Gonna Give You Up” until your computer crashes. To expedite the crash, the exe file will also spam the ‘_’ characters nonstop. The word is different each time the program runs. Just to make it harder of course.

Now of course this isn’t something to go home to your mom about. It’s pretty easy to stop it. Here’s how:

• Restart your computer
• Force quit the program in your Apple or Windows menu

If by any chance or miracle, this turns into a vicious worm that would go on to affect thousands of computers, then here is how you would stop it:

• Block YouTube from being an accessible site in your firewall
• Have YouTube change the link
• Have the video taken down

Now of course the second list of methods would only be used in dire situations which I cannot forsee ever happening. Therefore as of now, it’s okay to disregard it. You also may notice I referenced YouTube a few times. That’s because the program simply uses a link to redirect your browser to that page.

I’m aware this isn’t a fancy exe. That is because it is my first ever “funware” exe. I was proud of my work and thought I’d share what I created.

*This blog post is strictly informational. In no way should anyone feel compelled to create malware or unstable “funware” due to what they have just read*

TL;DR: I created a “Funware” that Rick-Rolls your friend’s computer until it crashes.