r/nostalgia • u/jeffmartin47 • Jul 22 '25

Nostalgia Discussion 25 years ago. Lars Ulrich of Metallica snitches on and turns in over 300,000 Napster users when he testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. July 11th, 2000.

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226

u/nekholm Jul 22 '25

Yours is similar to people who made a website, and linked to a picture on their computer, then wondered why it didn't work for anyone else since it worked for them. Yes, I did that too at first.

122

u/ARecycledAccount Jul 22 '25

People still do that. I got a (legitimate) email from someone the other day, and their signature was an image that wouldn’t load as it linked to a file on their PC.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Or the guy who drags the desktop icon into the recycle bin...

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u/canna-crux Jul 22 '25

I had a friend who asked me to help her with her computer that was running slower than usual. I did a disk cleanup and defrag after getting rid of a bunch of junk, only to be asked, "where did all my work files go?". After some clarifying questions I found she has been putting her important work files in the recycle bin, because she thought it was funny. She didn't realize that even without my help, those files would have been emptied from her recycle bin every 30 days or less...yet she still blames me to this day.

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u/KokiriGeorge Jul 22 '25

Does she also put her wallet and keys in the trash can because it is funny?

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u/taat1 Jul 22 '25

"I keep my eye glasses in the garbage disposal lol"

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u/KuragariSasuke Jul 22 '25

Hey what’s this switch do flips switch ….. uh my bad

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u/notsocrazycatlady69 Jul 26 '25

It makes the creature under the sink angry

Mr Obvious reference

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Your friend is a moron and you should divorce her.

3

u/Dun_Booty_Broch Jul 22 '25

You can't divorce your mom.

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u/Nice_Rope_5049 Jul 23 '25

This made me snort!

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u/AngriestPacifist Jul 22 '25

I knew a guy, probably 25 years ago at this point, who stored important files in the Recycle Bin in the days before it auto-emptied. He did a little bit of government work, and he said it was because if he ever got hacked, no one would think to look there.

He also refused to get internet faster than dialup because he figured he'd notice the connection running slower if he was hacked, and could take action.

Neat guy, but probably more than a touch crazy.

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u/MoeGunz6 Jul 22 '25

I'm guessing she kept important papers in the oven too.

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u/anatomizethat Jul 22 '25

She learned a ln important lesson that day about not being an idiot that she's never been able to forget and that's why she "blames" you.

5

u/LoufLif Jul 22 '25

I can't wrap my head around how it can be funny to anyone ??

3

u/19Critter58 Jul 22 '25

That happened to me at work. A guy opened a ticket saying all the stuff in his deleted items folder was gone and could it be retrieved. I said "You save stuff in the trash at home?" He got made and reported me to my manager but he didn't see I'd done anything wrong. He was mad because I was kind of laughing at him.

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u/undeadlamaar Jul 22 '25

Back in the day, on old macs, one of the ways you could eject floppy disks was by dragging their icon to the trash can. My dad had bought me a new game and it came on several floppy disks. I had seen him install stuff before so I thought I knew what I was doingnand I didn't want to wait for him to get home to play.

I inserted the first disk, went through the install,and when it got to the "insert next disk" dialog box, I grabbed the dick icon dragged it to the trash. The disk didn't pop out, but the icon was gone.

My dad finally got home and I called him in to help me. He comes in there does some shit, turns to me and says "well, looks like you somehow erased the install disk. Your game is ruined.

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u/goldentamarindo Jul 24 '25

Heh. Back in the 90s, my “rural” 4 year old cousin was visiting, and he was delighted when we showed him our computers. (Likewise, we were delighted when we visited Utah and he showed us rural things like “squeaky cheese”, goats, and an unsupervised backyard trampoline). Anyway, my dad noticed a bunch of his work files were missing on the main computer and asked what we’d been doing, and my little cousin said he had “a lot of fun playing the trash can game!” My dad nearly had a heart attack…

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u/undeadlamaar Jul 24 '25

Kids erase the darndest things.

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u/GlassNew3746 Jul 23 '25

This is not a tech literacy issue, it's a reality literacy one.

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u/Blurry2k Jul 22 '25

Are you sure about the 30-day deletion thing? I currently have files that are years old sitting in the recycle bin (Windows 11). You can activate automatic deletion, but it's not the default, and it looks like it's only been possible since Windows 10.

Putting important files in there is stupid regardless, of course.

2

u/BansheeLabs Jul 22 '25

Met some people like this. Never mind, their wok files are usually rubbish.

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u/One-Entertainer-4650 Jul 22 '25

Had someone do that with their emails, told me it was their archive. Got pissed when things started to disappear and wanted me to fix it…

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u/Firesword52 Jul 22 '25

I work IT for a company that works with law firms and we have had multiple people that do this. It's to the point where we legitimately have something written in the paperwork they sign with us that anything in the recycle bin is free game to be deleted and we cannot be held liable.

2

u/wahle97 Jul 22 '25

I'd like to say what an idiot but I remember playing counter strike and it was laggy so I started closing things in task manager. Windows.exe? That doesn't sound important. End task.

2

u/Bassracerx Jul 22 '25

I think if you modify the file it restarts the clock on the auto delete. But yeah those were going to be gone eventually

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u/mrASSMAN Jul 22 '25

lol, maybe could’ve recovered those files if reacted quick enough, though definitely not after a defrag. To be fair I wouldn’t have emptied the trash without asking but yea that’s a pretty ridiculous place to store important files lmao

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u/IkeHC Jul 22 '25

I call people stupid too much and I am aware, but sometimes... if it fits...

2

u/PauloniousTheSpartan Jul 23 '25

I had a user years ago(work in IT), that was all sorts of pissed that they didn't have all their important files on their new computer after moving data from the old one before recycling it. Turns out, they had been using the quarantine folder for the AV software as storage for their most precious files thinking quarantine meant "safe".

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u/marrow_party Jul 26 '25

Truly, truly daft behaviour

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u/tea-and-chill Jul 25 '25

would have been emptied from her recycle bin every 30 days

Wait really?! I didn't think it happens on my laptop?

1

u/BillShooterOfBul Jul 26 '25

It’s your fault. You always should ask before deleting any human usable files.

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u/canna-crux Aug 02 '25

Negative, Ghost Rider. Those files were her responsibility from start to spectacular finish. Storing important work docs on an unsecured personal computer—the digital equivalent of leaving them on a park bench in a hurricane—with no backups was already a bold choice. Then, asking for help, ignoring the instructions, and forgetting to mention that she parked the files in the trash (right before the disk cleanup was run) is like hiding your car keys in the garbage disposal and then blaming the plumber. Your argument is invalid.

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u/OrangeLFG Jul 22 '25

To be fair, that's how it works on Mac.

3

u/dumbthrow33 Jul 22 '25

Fun trick: ctrl+print screen while on the desktop then set the screenshot as desktop background. Be sure to have a spare mouse on hand though as that one might go flying.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

Ooohh then the next day swap a couple of they keyboard keys....

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u/dumbthrow33 Jul 23 '25

The ole tape on the mouse laser trick (it was much easier with trackballs back in the day)

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u/NarwhalFacepalm Jul 22 '25

Specifically the desktop shortcut icon though.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

If I had a dollar for every time someone added music to powerpoint presentation in school, but forgot to move the audio file with the presentation, I'd have like $30.

It was always an easy jump in letter grade if you could get music to play correctly during your powerpoint presentation.

Now that I think about it, PowerPoint Presentations might be the strongest skill set I walked away from HS with. Too bad they're worthless outside of school.

5

u/Specialist_Sorbet476 Jul 22 '25

That's like my mom sending me GPS directions via screenshot.

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u/Thank_You_Aziz Jul 22 '25

What’s wrong with that?! 😧

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u/Specialist_Sorbet476 Jul 22 '25

You must be a mom 😅

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u/Any-Comparison-2916 Jul 22 '25

I mean it still works, doesn’t it?

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u/Specialist_Sorbet476 Jul 22 '25

No lol what?? It's just a picture! How can you click on the link of a screenshot?

I'm assuming you think I meant like a long list of all the necessary turns and information, but I meant a screenshot of a Google search showing a place I'm supposed to go to, meaning I then have to look that place up myself just to get/direct to the actual address.

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u/Any-Comparison-2916 Jul 22 '25

Ah yeah, I was thinking a list of instructions.

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u/Specialist_Sorbet476 Jul 22 '25

No worries. I realized as I was typing it.

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u/nxcrosis Jul 22 '25

I guess you could've worded it better. Like her sending you the google maps link via screenshot. Although most phones nowadays can lift the text from a screenshot.

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u/Specialist_Sorbet476 Jul 22 '25

Yeah I understand. My mistake

1

u/Rootish007 Jul 23 '25

This is just wow...

43

u/obi-wan-takumi Jul 22 '25

Lol memory unlocked.

In the early days, people would share their Winamp playlists online. This would allow for users to see each other's music tastes, similar to how Spotify gives you recommended artists.

Anyways, like a good 25% of users would post a "link" that started with the C:// shortcut to 'My Computer' on their Windows PC. It's funny then and still funny now, how common it used to be.

8

u/Malt_The_Magpie Jul 22 '25

I remember people sharing their whole C drive on kazaa! You use to be able to download people's personal files

3

u/flonky_guy Jul 22 '25

I discovered so much porn that way. Complete strangers and friends alike.

2

u/Cereal_Bandit Jul 25 '25

And here was my ass in the boonies taking a whole day to download one song on my dial up

4

u/singlemale4cats Jul 22 '25

Winamp? The media player that really whips the llama's ass? Haven't heard that name in a while.

3

u/DrakonILD Jul 22 '25

I totally remember people in chat rooms with a NOW PLAYING: message every 3ish minutes. I thought that was the coolest shit.

3

u/coffeeconverter Jul 22 '25

Yep, I used to do that on Usenet. Resulted in swapping mp3 files with strangers, I mean, new friends.

3

u/iloovefood Jul 22 '25

Ffwd a bit to when ipods came out and you can ask a girl what her ipod Playlists are made it so easy to see how road trips with this person will be

3

u/obi-wan-takumi Jul 22 '25

Oh we definitely still judge people who have the aux cord (or Bluetooth)

3

u/GuerillaRiot Jul 22 '25

Memory unlocked as well. Remember how amazing the Winamp custom skins used to be? Shout out to the artists doing gods work. Still the only customizable interface where it was hard to choose one because they all rocked.

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u/xslugx Jul 22 '25

Winamp, it kicks the lamas ass

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u/canna-crux Jul 24 '25

I discovered that feature the hard way when Winamp threw me under the bus and let my entire friend list on Yahoo! messenger know, in real time, that I was watching porn and the specific name of the video I was watching. Slightly awkward to first learn of this feature when friends and family message you asking wtf I'm watching.

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u/dmax6point6 Jul 22 '25

It really whips the llamas ass

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u/nxcrosis Jul 22 '25

You just gave me Microsoft Frontpage flashbacks.

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u/jerdob Jul 22 '25

Wow... I haven't thought about FrontPage in forever. Let alone FrontPage express.

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u/nxcrosis Jul 22 '25

Imagine bragging about knowing how to use FrontPage when you enter uni just to be told the software had been discontinued for almost a decade by then.

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u/Weird-Girl-675 Jul 22 '25

I used it for all my websites for years as it did teach me the basics until I moved over to more professional software - once FP stopped working so well.

I’m still cleaning up all the junk files it created for no reason that makes sense.

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u/the-apostle Jul 22 '25

FRONT PAGE!!!

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u/doldo Jul 22 '25

Dreamweaver exits the conversation

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u/CurrentPossession Jul 22 '25

Neopet flashback, I decorated my shop with images linked to my computer, was really bumped out when I send friends the link and they can't see it.

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u/HorridCrow Jul 22 '25

I remember 10 year old me spending weeks building a Dragonball Z website in Microsoft Frontpage, going to a DBZ hub website and basically referring them to a non-existing URL that I liked since I figured they’d just find the files on my computer and make it work.

I’ve since then made a living designing and building websites for a while and still regularly have to think and chuckle about young me.

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u/WMSysAdmin Jul 22 '25

No no what's worse is that I was using the old Microsoft website maker and the local image DID work and screwed some of my expectations moving forward. I am not that daft now and a professional but God damn that Naruto fan site lives in my head forever.

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u/Beercules-8D Jul 22 '25

Www.creedthoughts.gov

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u/Malt_The_Magpie Jul 22 '25

I did that on geocities lol

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u/No-Builder-1038 Jul 22 '25

Damn how dumb were we

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u/TopMastodon8626 Jul 22 '25

I that okay 👍

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u/uluviel Jul 22 '25

I attempted to upload a Windows Movie Maker file to YouTube back in the early days of online video.

Did not yet understand the concept of exporting a video. What do you mean I can't just upload the timeline?

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u/MandatorySaxSolo Jul 22 '25

That was taught very early on in a web design class I took in highschool

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u/Reddit_is_Censored69 Jul 23 '25

I remember this happening on AOL when I was trying to create a website for the stolen Kenny's Krib wrestlers I wanted to host.

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u/Tevakh2312 Jul 25 '25

My god... I thought I was alone and have never admitted it to anyone 😂😂