this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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me_irl
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Doesn't make it not a malicious thing though
Could be, could also be that there was some additional malware independently from that shell window.
A lot of the time with pirated games, this pop up shell is some kind of batch script applying some kind of hack or crack that disables the game's copy protection and makes it playable. If you want to know for certain, you will have to carefuly analyze the files you downloaded and figure out what exactly they do in detail.
Personally, I would never run pirated software on the same computer I use for important files or logins.
Yeah you're right about all this. It is one of the major reasons I typically get my games from steam. Too much risk and hassle to pirate games now. That was for 20 year old me, who had no money and had plenty of time to fix a busted machine.