Warning: My kid almost got me with a fake game download link

Last Tuesday, my son was on my laptop trying to get a free game mod. He clicked a link that looked real but it started downloading a weird .exe file named 'setup_helper.zip'. I caught it because Windows Defender popped up a red flag I'd never seen before, something about a 'Trojan:Script/Wacatac.B!ml'. I made him cancel it, ran a full scan (which took about 45 minutes), and then had to explain to a 10-year-old why you never click download links in forum comments. Has anyone else had to deal with a sneaky fake game installer? What's the best way to explain this stuff to kids without scaring them?

4 comments

4 Comments

karen3612mo ago

Used to think kids were safe, this changed my mind lol.

daniel1402mo ago

Yeah, that's a rough one to see, @karen361. Watched my nephew the other day and he somehow got a whole marble stuck in his nose in the two seconds I looked away. Had to make a whole trip to the clinic. Makes you realize they can find trouble anywhere, even in a totally baby-proofed room. It really does change how you see things.

jasonallen1mo ago

Tbh a marble in the nose is one of those things you never think about until it happens. But here's the thing, a totally baby-proofed room doesn't really exist. Kids are basically tiny engineers who find new ways to test the limits of everything. You can put covers on outlets and lock cabinets, but a marble is just a gravity-powered problem waiting for a two-second gap. That trip to the clinic sounds like a right of passage honestly. It's not about making the room perfect, it's about accepting that you'll miss something and just having the clinic number saved.

matthewdixon2mo agoMost Upvoted

Even the quiet ones can find a way to eat a marker cap when you blink.