The app called No name (a short story about nothing)

No-one knows where it came from, how long it had been inside my computer, or what it actually did there. I discovered it by accident, a small piece of software stranded inside my laptop, only visible from the "add or remove" section of the Win7 control panel. It didn't even have a name, no programmer had proudly announced it to be anything special , it was just one of those strange things that happens now and then when your life orbits around computers and software: An application with no name, no meaning, nothing. No parents, no-one who cares, no evil inside, not even a trojan, according to my Forefront antivirus system.

But the app had at least a Change button. This is what happened when I clicked it:

Hmm. This is interesting. Seems like there's more inside. I choose Modify, just to see what options are available.

But nope. The No-name application refused to reveal it's secrets. Parts of it's description are marked with xxxxxxxxxxx'es, don't ask me why, I didn't do it.

I clicked the "Next" button, eagerly anticipating new mysteries, but no. No more fun and exitement, only an error message and then sudden termination.



I deinstalled it soon afterwards, knowing that my antivirus colleagues would have strangled me if I had'nt. But was it a virus/trojan/worm/other malicious code? Nope. It was just - nothing. Nothing, but with an uninstall option.

Unless someone has a better explanation.