Editing Scareware (section)

== Prank software ==
Another type of scareware involves software designed to literally scare the user through the use of unanticipated shocking images, sounds or video.

* An early program of this type is [[NightMare (scareware)|NightMare]], a program distributed on the [[Fred Fish|Fish Disks]] for the [[Amiga]] computer (Fish #448) in 1991. When NightMare executes, it lies dormant for an extended and random period of time, finally changing the entire screen of the computer to an image of a skull while playing a horrifying shriek on the audio channels.<ref>[http://www.amiga-stuff.com/pd/fish.html Contents of disk #448] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918191203/http://www.amiga-stuff.com/pd/fish.html |date=2018-09-18 }}. Amiga-stuff.com - see DISK 448.</ref>
* Anxiety-based scareware puts users in situations where there are no positive outcomes.  For example, a small program can present a [[dialog box]] saying "Erase everything on hard drive?" with two buttons, both labeled "OK".  Regardless of which button is chosen, nothing is destroyed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freetheflash.com/downloads/dark-drive.php |title=Dark Drive Prank |access-date=2010-02-18 |archive-date=2018-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724055425/http://www.freetheflash.com/downloads/dark-drive.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
* This tactic was used in an advertisement campaign by [[Sir-Tech]] in 1997 to advertise ''[[Virus: The Game]]''. When the file is run, a full screen representation of the desktop appears. The software then begins simulating deletion of the [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] folder. When this process is complete, a message is slowly typed on screen saying "Thank God this is only a game." A screen with the purchase information appears on screen and then returns to the desktop. No damage is done to the computer during the advertisement.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}