McDonalds.exe was a screamer program that spread across the Internet in the early 2000s. It was created in September 2000, in China. The program icon is the McDonald's logo on a red background. Even though one would think otherwise, this has nothing to do with the McDonald's fast-food franchise.
When the user launches the program, the screen turns black and some green Chinese text appears, which is a horror story. A few seconds later, the text disappears and the screen returns to its original state. Shortly after, a dialog window appears with some Chinese text, and e-mail address (xu_yyfy@yeah.net), and a phone number. After a short delay from when the user closes the window, a black and white picture of a girl with no eyes will pop up along with a short scream.
The image will continue to be displayed at two-minute intervals, until the process is terminated in Task Manager.
What are malicious scripts?
Some screamer websites contain Malicious scripts, scripts in the screamer's source code that are intended to harm the viewer's device. Some screamers also come in the form of scareware, which is malicious software which seeks to both scare the viewer and harm their device. These types of screamers may use the following tactics to freak out their victims:
Putting the viewers device/browser into full screen mode right after a page loads
Locking volume adjust at the highest level
Opening infinite tabs/windows
Downloading other malicious software on the viewers device
Shutting down the device's system/making the device unusable
