Hypotheticaly if instead of searching for my old Ps2/Xbox360 discs i downloaded a rom could the emulated games infect my computer once ran? (if this breakes the rules im sory)

  • farcaster@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    10 months ago

    For emulators which use recompilation techniques, I suppose it’s technically possible to make them execute malware. But writing your malware in legacy XBox/PlayStation code to embed it in roms would also make it some of the most sophisticated in history just to infect a handful of retrogamers so I think it’s very unlikely…

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    10 months ago

    Search for some emulating communities and see what sites they have recommended. The ROMs aren’t dangerous, but there are dangerous sites that promise ROMs.

    • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      FMHY is always my starting point. They’re really good about removing recommendations that have the slightest hint of anything malicious.

  • JoeKrogan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Its easier to just infect a crack for a popular game and get a ton of windows “power” users to install it.

  • Cloudless ☼@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    10 months ago

    Anything you download from unknown sites can be risky. You don’t even have to run the file in order to start the infection.

  • papalonian@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    10 months ago

    Like others have said, any file can be dangerous. You need to be diligent in picking where your ROMs come from, if it’s a sketchy site don’t use it.

    That being said I’ve been doing similar activities since I was like 12 years old and have got a virus exactly once, and it was completely my fault for not listening to my gut (disregarded some red flags because I really wanted something to work.)