Comment by bogeholm

Yeah, I remember formatting the HD on a PC back then to do a fresh install of Windows XP.

The CD-ROM I had was pre-SP2 (so no firewall), and our internet setup was basic modem + switch. No router with “drop invalid state” or fancy things like that.

So, installed Windows and plugged in Ethernet to fetch Windows updates.

2 minutes later, with no user interaction whatsoever, the PC was infected with malware.