21-year-old gamer's computer gets fried after she snoops through her friend's mysterious USB collection, then she brazenly demands her friend replace the PC: 'Don’t plug random drives into your computer'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Dec 11, 2025 3:00 PM EST

You know what they say about curiosity and the cat...

There's probably a similar saying about curiosity and the random, sketchy USB hard drive, but in the gaming world, who in their right mind would ever risk their PC? A snoopy 21-year-old would. 

When her friend rushed off in a hurry to get to class, she left behind a bag full of mysterious USBs and her own computer. Tempted by the urge to snoop through her things, the nosy friend immediately dove into the bag, plugging in the first USB she could find to see what kind of files were on it. Alas, the little devil sticker on the outside of the drive was the friend's way of warning herself never to use this data stick, because it was the kind that would rot your computer from the inside out: A shadow USB, if you will. 

This was a hard learned lesson for the nosy friend, because as soon as the USB touched her PC, all was lost… Literally, the entire computer was fried. I guess sometimes when you're snooping around, you learn the hard way that you might not like what you find. 

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  • AITA for my USB killer frying my friend's PC after she snooped in my bag?
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • Woman rummaging through someone's purse
    via racool.studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 20F, my friend is 21F. I always carry a USB killer in my backpack. It looks like any other thumb drive except I stuck a tiny devil face sticker on it so I know it's the dangerous one. I keep it
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • on me because I still live at home and my parents are super nosy; if I ever left it on my desk they'd definitely pick it up and plug it into their laptop to "see what it is." Yesterday I had to leave
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • campus in a rush and asked my friend to watch my bag for a bit. I ended up not having time to come back so I just texted her to take it home and I'd grab it today.
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • She said cool. She gets home, admits she got curious and started looking through my stuff, finds the devil sticker USB, thinks it's my normal drive, plugs it into
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • her gaming PC to see what files I have. Computer instantly dies, mobo and PSU completely gone. Now she's mad at me, saying I'm reckless for carrying something
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • like that and I need to buy her a whole new setup, even though she knows she shouldn't have been digging around in my bag in the first place. I feel bad her PC is dead but come on, don't snoop and don't plug random drives into your computer. AITA?
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • Woman handing a purse to someone else after rummaging through it.
    via racool.studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • arachnebleu7 This is known as FAFO. She snooped, she stole, she paid the price. Too bad, so sad for her.
    via arachnebleu7
  • Civil_Bat1009 Wait, hold up. You keep this because your parents are nosy? So, its intended purpose is to destroy your parents computer if they go through your stuff? | think YTA for that. I know you're an adult, but you're still living with them. It's like keeping some poisoned food in the house, just in case they eat some of your food. As for your friend, you should have just told her it was a USB you found, and you didn't know what was on it. Of course you hadn't plugged it into your computer,
    via Civil_Bat1009
  • OP Dreaksfrendford No I think I should've been more clear with the words. I meant, I keep it "with me/wherever I go" as I know my parents can accidentally or intentionally use it. I do it to prevent them from damaging anything.
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • RazzmatazzUnique6602 NTA, but I don't understand the part about the USB and your parents. Are you intending to kill your parents computers?
    via RazzmatazzUnique6602
  • OP Dreaksfrendford No I carry it with me cos they can use it. I.e. to prevent them from accidentally or intentionally using it, I keep it in my bag
    via Dreaksfrendford
  • NeighborhoodSame9165 Yeah YTA. Pay for the stuff you broke intentionally. You might argue that you didnt intend to destroy any PCs but carrying around a USB drive thats only purpose is to brick PCs is absolutely intent.
    via NeighborhoodSame9165
  • Judgement_Bot_AITA Welcome to /r/AmlTheAsshole. Please view our voting guide here, and remember to use only one judgement in your comment. OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole: > i might be the asshole because i carry a literal computer-killing device in my bag every day and didn't say a single word about it before letting her take the bag home, yeah she went through my stuff (not cool) but at the end of the day her pc is fried because of somethin
    via Judgement_Bot_AITA
  • G_Art33 NTA she shouldn't have gone in your stuff, FAFO, but at the same time, is there any reason you do carry one of those around? Like, why even have that unless you plan to use it, and in my mind there are very limited valid uses for a USB Killer.
    via G_Art33
  • Fickle_Enthusiasm148 YTA because you don't seem very responsible for what's effectively a computer bomb.
    via Fickle_Enthusiasm148
  • Mr_Owlixx Not the asshole. People here are wild, and im not sure what their entitlement issue is. How does it not matter that your friend invaded your privacy. Went into your items. Took one, and decided to make use of it. Thats not on you, thats on the friend for not having self control, or respecting boundaries. It wasn't her stuff. It wasn't her purse. Its not her usb drive. Thats borderline theft. She took something that belongs to someone else and went to see what was on it. Why? What would
    via Mr_Owlixx
  • ipsum629 Who tf snoops like that? Also, it should be common knowledge not to put unknown storage devices in your computer. NTA.
    via ipsum629
  • psychoingreen I would say nta but if you would like to recover the friendship I would offer to help with the rebuilding of the computer. Maybe buy a couple of the parts if you can, if you know anything about computers- work with each other to put the new parts in. Your friend is probably in shock, I think most people would be. It's easiest to want to blame someone else off the bat. Hopefully they will think about it and talk to other friends and realize it was a consequence of their own actions.
    via psychoingreen

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deserved friends gamers computer pc gaming payback
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