Editing virus

{{sbenav}}

[[Image:Virus.PNG|thumb|300px|"Never fear, Strong Bad! I know how to fix your computer box."]]

{{aboutemail}} {{for|effects of the virus on the [[Homestar Runner universe]]|The Virus}}

Strong Bad experiences some "technical difficulties" with the Compy 386... and the rest of the [[Homestar Runner universe]].

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' {{Film|Strong Bad}}, {{Film|Strong Sad}}, {{Film|Coach Z}} (Easter egg) {{Film|Homestar Runner}}, {{Film|Strong Mad}}, {{Film|Marzipan}}, {{Film|The Poopsmith}}, {{Film|The King of Town}}, {{Film|The Ugly One}}, {{Film|Bubs}}, {{Film|The Cheat}}, {{Film|Rather Dashing}}, {{Film|Fightgar}} (Easter egg)

'''Places:''' [[Computer Room]], [[Marzipan's House]], [[King of Town's Castle]], [[Paper Background]], [[The Stick]], [[Bubs' Concession Stand]] (Easter egg)

{{Comp|Compy 386}}

'''Date:''' Monday, November 15, 2004

'''Running Time:''' 4:05

'''Page Title:''' Compy 386??

{{dvd|strongbad_email.exe Disc Four}}, {{dvd|Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD|notitle=true}}

== Transcript ==

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{singing}'' I got the email, you got the email, I got the email, you got the email.
<blockquote class="compy email">ert+<br />
y76p; '0lu8jykee;u4p;e'/Rh<br />
Strong ba15456`-------++++++gf<br />
+++++-//==========/*8901ikg</blockquote>

''{Pronounces "Ert plus: Why seven-six P? Ohlyuu eightguh{{--}}" then stops}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' What is this? Did the quadratic formula explode? I see a "Strong ba" in there, but it's getting eaten... by some... Linux or something. Wait a minute! Is this one of those ''virus'' emails?! Like the kind that moms<!-- We had a discussion and determined that the word was "moms", not "mobs". Please don't change it. --> and offshore casinos send you?!? I'll take care of this!

''{Strong Bad types "deleted!", but the screen flashes:}''

<blockquote class="email" style="background:#003893;text-align:center">NICE TRY!</blockquote>

''{A red line of text appears, reading "That didn't work."}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' What?! I said deleted!

''{Strong Bad types it again, this time in capital italicized letters, but the screen flashes:}''

<blockquote class="email" style="background:#003893;text-align:center">NOTTA<br>
CHANCE!!</blockquote>

''{A red line of text appears, reading "That neither."}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oh, a wise guy, eh? Maybe I should introduce you to my main man, Edgar!

''{Strong Bad types in [[Edgar#Edgarware|Edgarware]].exe, bringing up the following text on-screen, along with a quick tune.}''

<blockquote class="compy email" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:#FFFF00">Edgar the Virus<br>
Hunter</span><br>
<br>
programmed entirely<br>
in mom's basement<br>
by Edgar &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;c1982<br></blockquote>

''{Strong Bad hits enter, and the screen switches to the following text}''

<blockquote class="email" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:#FFFF00">Virus Protection<br>
version .0001</span><br>
<br>
Last scan was NEVER ago.<br>
<br>
<span style="color:#FFFF00">scanning...</span></blockquote>

'''STRONG BAD:''' All right, Edgar, now drop a ''train'' on 'em...

''{The computer dings and the following now appears on the screen:}''

<blockquote class="email" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:#FFFF00">Scan Complete!</span><br>
<br>
<span style="color:#FF0000">'''<big><big><big><big>423,827</big></big></big></big>'''</span><br />
Viruses Found<br>
<br>
<span style="color:#FFFF00">A New Record!!</span></blockquote>

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{alarmed}'' Waaugh! That is not a small number!! That is a ''big'' number!!! What'm I gonna do?!

''{The following text now appears on the screen, accompanied by the Compy's startup beep:}''

<blockquote class="email" style="background:#3a50b6;text-align:center">FLAGRANT SYSTEM ERROR<br>
<br>
Computer over.<br>
Virus = Very Yes.</blockquote>

'''STRONG BAD:''' Computer over? Virus equals very yes?! That's not a good prize!

''{The text and background on the Compy 386 screen melts off and slides onto the floor.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Oooh!

''{Strong Bad jumps out of the way. The camera zooms out to a view of the computer desk.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' And the Compy... just peed my carpet.

''{The corner of the computer desk briefly flashes, showing an underlying gridwork to it. The No Loafing sign becomes the following pseudo-HTML code and falls off the wall.}''

<code>
<head><br>
<href>no loafing!!</href><br>
</body>
</code>

''{The Floppy Disk Container gets eaten by the computer desk. Strong Sad walks in, but his head is floating a foot to the left of where it should be and has been replaced by his emoticons from [[Strong Sad's Lament]]. His head alternates from "whistful", "wry", "bourgeoise", "listless", "getting frustrated" and "o' what a night". }''

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{sounding annoyed}'' Strong Bad, what is going on?

'''STRONG BAD:''' WAH! I dunno! You forgot to wear your neck?

'''STRONG SAD:''' Have you been using the Internet irresponsibly?

''{The top of a Main Page starts to creep into the top of the email, with the text "Stave it off, 1, 2, 3..." in the corner in place of the "What's new" text.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' No more irresponsibly than usual.

'''STRONG SAD:''' ''{His lower body starts walking away in place.}'' Did you get a virus?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{with guilt}'' Uhhh, noo...

'''STRONG SAD:''' Did you get ''four hundred thousand'' viruses?

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{submissive}'' Yes... ''very'' yes!

'''STRONG SAD:''' Well, hurry up and ''do'' something about it before it gets worse!

''{Strong Sad turns into the Strong Sad [[character card]] and flies up and off the screen. The Main Page at the top of the screen creeps up and out of the email.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{terrified}'' The Cheeeaaat!

''{Strong Bad runs off the screen and into the black to the right of the computer desk and then stops.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' What the...? Whoa! ''{shivers}'' It's cold out here.

''{Strong Bad tries to jump back into the room, but the room shifts left, causing him to still fall on blank space.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Hey!

''{Homestar Runner walks onscreen. His torso is [[The Homestar Runner]]'s, but the rest of him is normal. Instead of his legs moving, he just glides. He leaves a motion trail behind him, producing several ghost images of himself.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Never fear, Strong Bad! I know how to fix your computer box. ''{He turns to the Compy, then back to Strong Bad.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{stands up}'' No, no, don't touch that!

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Your super box needs words. ''{His head falls off and onto the ground.}'' Like these right here! Gotta have this one ''{picks up "downloads" from the [[Navbar]]}'' and this one ''{picks up "games"}'' and this-a-this-a-this one. ''{picks up "characters"}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{simultaneously}'' No, wait! Stop! That's not supposed to be possible!

''{Suddenly, several pop-up windows appear one after the other (including a real one, unless popup blocking is used), titled "Click on the Monkey!!" They each feature oldschool Homestar who is saying "Making out with Marzipan is totally awesome!" Strong Bad starts screaming and pounds the side of the screen with his fists. Cut to Marzipan's living room. Strong Mad is standing nearby and Marzipan is standing next to a stack of VHS tapes.}''

'''MARZIPAN:''' Well, I think it's fantastic, Strong Mad! That's the best stack of VHS tapes I've ever{{--}}

''{Marzipan turns into an ASCII art rendering of herself, and her voice becomes extremely deep and distorted, making her words unintelligible.}''

'''STRONG MAD:''' I CAN'T SPELL YOU!

'''MARZIPAN:''' ''{more unintelligible gibberish}''

''{Strong Mad turns into a picture of himself from his [[Yearbook Character Page]], which walks offscreen with Homsar's walking noise. Cut-off text appears at the top of the screen reading as follows.}''

<blockquote>
If anyone is truly a big lug, Strong Mad is. This guy is dumb<br>
strong, and that's pretty much the definition of a lug. One ti<br>
his brother Strong Bad asked him to pick up this one car. An<br>
he did, but it was the wrong car. See? Dumb and strong. He'<br>
</blockquote>

''{Cut to the King of Town's castle. The Poopsmith is standing with his shovel extended and some [[whatsit]] on the end of it, as the King of Town stands nearby.}''

'''THE KING OF TOWN:''' A little to the left. ''{The Poopsmith extends the shovel toward the King.}'' Good, good...

''{The scene suddenly changes to a [[Teen Girl Squad]]-style piece of paper, with the text "issue [[Pi|3.14159265and the rest]]" at the top. The Poopsmith is gone.}''

'''THE KING OF TOWN:''' ''{his crown pops up in surprise}'' Ooh! Poopsmith?!

''{The Ugly One appears out of nowhere with the rhino sound from "Strong Bad's RhinoFeeder", and her mouth is huge and distorted.}''

'''THE UGLY ONE:''' I can do it! I can do it ''nine times''!

''{The Ugly One extends her arm and starts slapping the King of Town.}''

'''THE KING OF TOWN:''' Uh! No! Please! Stop! I'm old! And fat! And rich! And cool!

''{Cut to the Homestar Runner website loading screen, which then slowly wipes to a black screen with the text "It's now safe to turn your computer off." The navbar disappears. Bubs walks on from the side of the screen. His mouth is a broken JPEG (with "TH" as the alt text), his legs are rendered as two overlapping red and blue layers, his midsection is missing, and he's carrying one of Homestar's legs in his left arm. His other arm is continually waving about, as seen on [[Dancin' Bubs]]. It is a bit larger than it should be.}''

'''BUBS:''' I shoulda done this, like, a ''million years'' ago.

''{Cut to cloud scene with Strong Bad and The Cheat. Strong Bad has one big foot instead of both legs, his black mark is too high,  and his head and mouth are lopsided. The Cheat is floating around the screen, interchanging between different versions of himself. A pitch-black Rather Dashing and a colon fly by in the foreground. As Strong Bad talks, his left arm detaches from his body and flies off in random directions.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{Using an old version of his voice}'' With Marzipan's radish, we're gonna win the competition...

''{An explosion sound effect is heard, and suddenly everything returns to normal, revealing Strong Bad and The Cheat standing in The Field by The Stick.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Hey, he fixed it! That Bubs is a computer genius man! Let's do a dance for the computer genius man.

''{A salsa rhythm starts up, to which Strong Bad and The Cheat start dancing. The camera pans to the left to reveal Bubs holding a [[Bubs's Shotgun|shotgun]].}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' Thanks, Bubs! How'd you get rid of the vi{{--}} ''{salsa music fades away}'' wait... why do you have a shotgun? ''{shaken}'' What did you do?! Where's my Compy?!?

'''BUBS:''' It's in a better place, Strong Bad. Or rather, it's in the same place, but now it's got a big hole through it.

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{more shaken than ever}'' YOU MURDERER!! You killed my brother! ''{nearly sobbing}'' I mean, computer!

'''BUBS:''' Look, Strong Bad, ''{zoom in on Bubs}'' my mouth was a broken JPEG. I had no choice.

'''STRONG BAD:''' You don't understand! ''{cut to Strong Bad}'' You ''all'' understand! I mean, don't understand! YAAAUUUGGGHHH!

''{Strong Bad runs off screen, very distraught. The Cheat squeaks, as though he is telling Strong Bad to wait up, and runs after him. Homestar hops onscreen on one leg, holding up his other leg.}''

'''HOMESTAR RUNNER:''' Hey, Bubs, can I have my leg back now?

''{There is a long pause.}

''{Cut to the Compy 386, which now has a giant hole through its monitor and most of the wall behind it. Strong Bad is sitting in front of it, head bowed.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{hysterical}'' Dear Strong Bad, I doh du duoh crapfully yours. ''{He hits his head on the keyboard a few times.}'' I ...ID DOH DU DUOH CRAPFULLY YOURS! I can relate. ''{He hits his head on the keyboard again.}'' I ''can't relate''! ''{He hits his head on the keyboard again.}'' I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get in there and ''mix'' ''{He hits his head.}'' it up!

''{[[The Paper]] comes down.}''

'''STRONG BAD:''' ''{still very distraught}'' I don't remember your ''names'', Davey! ''{he hits his head on the keyboard again}'' Dear Strong Bad. ''{voice trailing off}'' How do you text with boxing gloves on?

== Easter Eggs ==

*When the Main page is encroaching on the top of the screen, the [[Quote of the Week]] button, [[Sketchbook]] button, [[Weekly Fanstuff]] button, and hidden main page button are all clickable. This is not possible in the Ruffle version.
**Clicking the hidden main page button leads to [[Halloween Fairstival]].
**Clicking the Quote of the Week button makes it bounce around the screen until it gets lodged at the top by its bottom corner. Clicking "Hear it" causes a pixelated broom to scroll vertically along the screen while making a loud distorted noise, and some of the links disappear off the bottom of the screen. Unless the X is pressed, the quote box stays there for the rest of the email. When clicking the "X" to close it, the Quote of the Week box wobbles a bit and then falls off the screen, while the links reappear. When viewing the Flash file, if "Don't TAPE it" is scrolled over, it changes to "Don't TAKE it!".
**Clicking on the Sketchbook leads to a glitched sketchbook box, where the Flash MX color mixer appears. Scrolling over it causes a green X to appear overtop. Clicking it again causes it to close.
**Clicking on Weekly Fanstuff leads to a glitched fanstuff box, where there is a picture of Coach Z upside down with his arms and legs wrapped around a white space in the shape of The King of Town's head. This image is from [[Where's The Cheat?]], when Coach Z attacked The King over a misunderstanding involving The Cheat and [[The King of Town's Grill|a grill]]. The picture has many fractions at the bottom (which are actually the text "sticktoyourbooks" in the font [[Fonts#M|MS Reference Specialty]]). Hovering the cursor over the misspelled "OCⓧSLE" instead of the close button causes the words 'A BOOK' to appear in green. Clicking on it causes the box to slide to the top and disappear.
*Clicking on the cog on the left at the end of the email shows the shotgunned Compy 386 on sale at [[Bubs' Concession Stand]], with signs reading "Like Used!" and "Slightly Shotgunned!"
*Clicking on the fan on the right shows an excerpt of the original [[Cheat Commandos (toon)|Cheat Commandos]] toon, but with Fightgar using Homestar's leg as a gun.
:'''NARRATOR:''' ...to protect the world from the evil forces of Blue Laser!

== Fun Facts ==
=== Explanations ===
*The [[Wikipedia:Quadratic equation#Quadratic Formula|quadratic formula]] is an algebraic equation used to determine the roots of a [[Wikipedia:Quadratic equation|quadratic equation]].
*The Teen Girl Squad issue number is [[pi]] truncated to 8 decimal places.

=== Trivia ===
*This is the only page on the site that produces a pop-up browser window automatically.
*This is the only toon on the site in which the [[NavBar]] is part of the toon's Flash file (so that Homestar can grab the words). Later changes to the navbar ''(see [[NavBar]])'' have not been incorporated into this toon.
*The NavBar was added to the DVD and YouTube versions but not the [[Podstar Runner]] version of this email.
*The piece of the main page that appears reads "LAST UPDATED 10-29-04", and a "what's new" button reading "[[Halloween Fairstival|halloween toon!]]" is hidden in the Flash file. This is what was seen on the main page at the time of this email's release.
*The broken JPEG icon is used in the Gecko family of web browsers, including [[Netscape|Netscape Navigator]], [[Wikipedia:Mozilla|Mozilla]], and [[Wikipedia:Mozilla Firefox|Mozilla Firefox]].
<!-- :*However, users of Internet Explorer can turn on "Show Image Placeholders" in the advanced internet options tab to see this effect as well, albeit with a totally different icon. -->
*The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "[[Floppy Disk Container#spy vs spy|spy vs spy]]".
*On most [[homestarrunner.com]] pages, there are either 16 or 17 HTML errors that are generated by the <embed> tag. The page for this email, however, only has 14 errors, as there are fewer embedded objects.
*Marzipan's distorted speech, with the distortion removed, is "It accentuates the accord, and the design, and the composition."
*"Computer Over? Virus Equals Very Yes?! That's not a good prize!" is a [[haiku]].

=== Remarks ===
[[Image:sbemail118.png|thumb|Ah! That is not a small number! That is a ''big'' number!]]
*Since the navbar is contained in this email's Flash file, it does not appear on the page until the toon has finished loading.
*Edgar the Virus Hunter is said to have been programmed in 1982, a year before the first documented experimental virus was created, although there are conflicting accounts as to when the first virus was made. The idea of a [[Wikipedia:Computer Virus|computer virus]] is much older, dating at least back to the 1972 science fiction novel, ''[[Wikipedia:When HARLIE Was One|When HARLIE Was One]]''. Even so, it would be very unlikely that any sort of virus scanner would have existed in 1982.
*In 2004, the year of the release of this email, only about [https://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/press-releases/2004/12/pr_uk_20041208yeartopten.aspx 100,000 known viruses] existed; well under the 423,827 that Edgar reports.
*Strong Bad's head is larger than normal (but not his wrestling mask) while he is talking to Strong Sad. It reverts back to normal when he runs for The Cheat, but then regresses back to the larger head once he enters into the black.
*The letters that make up [[ASCII art]] Marzipan refer to parts of her body: "E" for eyes, "f" for face, "h" for hair, and "d" for dress. Her mouth, however, is a hyphen when closed and an "O" when open.
*Strong Bad says that Edgar from the [[Edgar#Edgarware|Edgarware]] program is his "main man."  However, he claims in "[[2 years]]" that his main man "is, and has been since [[1987]], Van Mundegaarde."
*The reason the "making out with Marzipan" pop-up doesn't come up in the .swf, or Flash, version is because the information for the pop-up is stored in the HTML source code. All that the Flash file does is send a JavaScript command to the browser, opening the pop-up window.
*One of Strong Sad's expressions, "whistful," is spelled incorrectly. It should be "wistful."
*In the Fake QOD, the words "Quote of the Day (Or So)" are displayed reversed, as though in a mirror, and, instead of "Hear It!" and "Get It!", the buttons are "Hear It!" and "Don't TAPE It", although the latter is hidden by the top of the screen. "TAPE" changes to "TAKE" when moused over.
*When the Fake QOD Easter egg is activated, the Games, Characters, Downloads, and Store buttons disappear.
**This happens because the SWF file for virus's fake Quote of the Week (qod_virus.swf) has black bars at the bottom right where those words are, so when it appears in the email, it covers up those words.
*Allowing the fake Sketchbook to remain on-screen causes a screen glitch{{--}}a black box appears over the left side of the screen when the screen moves off of the center of the page.
**The reason for the color switcher glitch is because in the .swf file of the glitched up sketchbook, there is a black box to the left of the screen, which covers up the screen on the left.
*The Ugly One slaps the King of Town 3 times before the screen turns into a loading screen, but 6 more times after the loading starts.
*This is the second email made using the widescreen technique. The first was [[flashback]].
*Clicking on the "main" on the navigation bar leads to the [[404'd]] page. The address is http://www.homestarrunner.com/mainNaN.html. NaN is the computer term for Not a Number, which is obtained in some environments by dividing zero by zero and/or other mathematical errors.
*When the fake popups appear followed by the real one, the fake ones look similar to the windows from some of the older Microsoft Windows operating systems. Depending on which operating system and desktop theme one uses, the real popup looks quite different from the fake ones. Especially users of operating systems such as Mac OS or Linux will notice this, while Windows 98 users will see no obvious difference.
*At the beginning of the Email, the contrast buttons will slightly increase and decrease the volume.
*In the Podcast version, Strong Bad looks back and forth when the ads pop up, even though they all appear in one area.
*Most shotguns spread out from the barrel, whereas the blast from Bubs's shotgun seems to narrow down as it reaches the back wall.
*When the "F" for [[Weekly Fanstuff]] and the "S" for [[Sketchbook]] are clicked, they change into a "[[Quote of the Week|Q]]".
*When the top of the screen lowers to reveal the weeklies, using the tab key will highlight a rectangle where the new toon message is displayed. While it can't be clicked, pressing enter while it is highlighted will lead to [[Halloween Fairstival]].
*While the liquid is leaking out of the screen, the contrast buttons are still clickable.
*After Strong Bad types "deleted!" for the first time and the blue screen appears, the drive letter disappears.
*While the NavBar's Store button directs to the current version of the Store, the [[YouTube]] button (and the previous [[Feedburner]] button) are not on the 'toon's custom NavBar.
*In the Ruffle version, the cartoon is smaller than usual to preserve its widescreen glory.

===Goofs===
*After Homestar grabs "downloads", "characters", and "games" from the bottom, "toons" is no longer clickable, unlike the other remaining links. Then, after all the links have disappeared, at the end of the email when everything else returns to normal, all the links are still missing.
*The fake QOD, fanstuff, and sketchbook stay on the screen until the viewer gets rid of them, even after Bubs shotguns the Compy, and in the Easter eggs.

===Fixed Glitches===
*As Strong Bad runs away from Bubs, his left arm momentarily disappeared. This has been fixed.

=== Inside References ===
<!-- The fact that Strong Sad's new heads are from his webblog? It's already in the transcript. Thus, please do not add it again. -->
*This is an extreme instance of [[Strong Bad's computer malfunctioning]].
*The "Flagrant System Error" title is from [[50 emails]].
*"Stave it off, 1, 2, 3..." is from the counting song in "[[Whaddaya Know, Haddi-Man?]]".
*The card that Strong Sad transforms into is from the original deck of [[Character Cards]] that has since been removed from the site.
*The pixelated broom induced by the glitched Quote of the Day is the same graphic used in [[Peasant's Quest]] for the broom [[Baby Lady & Her Baby|the baby]] knocks over to let the player into [[Naked Ned]]'s cottage.
**Using a broom to play Marzipan's garbled noise may be an oblique reference to people [[Marzipan Being Compared to a Broom|mistaking her for a broom]].
*"Making out with Marzipan is totally awesome" was once the phrase necessary to trigger the Strong Bad Talker from the [[Homestar Talker]] (it has since been changed). The sound clips for the words were also taken from the Homestar Talker. The first four words of the phrase are also heard in "[[The Cheat Theme Song]]".
**The "Click on the Monkey" pop-up(s) shows an [[Homestar Runner Evolution|older version of Homestar]].
*Strong Bad screaming and pounding on the edge of the screen while the popups are appearing could be a reference to [[Where the Crap Are We?]].
*Strong Mad's description, which appears when he glitches, comes from the [[Yearbook Character Page]], as does the picture of him inside a giant M.
**This time, the giant M shows Strong Mad's "M" insignia on his singlet, whereas in [[Yearbook Character Page]], the giant M did not.
*The sound effect that plays when The Ugly One appears is taken from [[RhinoFeeder]].
*[[The Ugly One]]'s line ("I can do it [[nine times]]!") and the sound effects for her slapping the King of Town in the face come from the [[Crazy Cartoon|Powered by The Cheat segment]] of [[crazy cartoon]]. However, she slightly misquotes it: the original line was "I can do it! I ''will'' do it nine times."  
*The powering-down sound that plays just before Bubs walks across the screen is the same sound that plays just before the [[Tandy 400]] explodes in [[gimmicks]].
*As Bubs is walking across the screen the first time, his left and right arms are moving as if stuck in positons #4 and #5 (respectively) in the [[Dancin' Bubs]] game. Bubs's right arm is also about twice as large as usual.
*Bubs's broken JPEG mouth bears the letters "TH". This might be a reference to his other identity, [[The Thnikkaman]].
*During the final glitch scene (just before Bubs "fixes" the computer), the song playing in the background is the intro to "[[Parsnips-A-Plenty]]" and "[[That a Ghost]]".
*Strong Bad's line during the final glitch scene is taken directly from [[The Reddest Radish]].
*The cloud background during the final glitch scene is the same cloud background used in [[New Boots]].
*[[Image:virusdthecheat.gif|thumb|Virus'd The Cheat]]During the final glitch scene, The Cheat is on a rotation of six different versions of himself:
*# The [[Awexome Cross]] version. 
*# The colored-in cut-out version from [[The Reddest Radish]].
*# A very pixellated version of him, with a thin black outline around it.
*# A The Cheat x-ing sign, much like the similar signs seen in the [[Fan Stuff]] part of the [[Museum]].
*# Another drawn version.
*# His [[Powered by The Cheat]] [[Powered by The Cheat Character Variation|depiction]] from [[New Boots]], with the colors reversed and without boots.
*The fan and cog in the Compy 386 are the same fan and cog that were visible when the Tandy 400 exploded.
**Looking closely (or zooming into the Flash file) reveals that the fan is once again mysteriously floating in space, just like when the Tandy 400 blew up.
*Bubs sells the [[Broken Compy Menu|broken Compy 386]] as he did with the [[King of Townmail|broken Tandy 400]].
*Strong Bad's muttered last line "how do you text with boxing gloves on?" is a variation of the common "[[how do you type with boxing gloves on?]]".
<!-- The fact that Strong Sad's new heads are from his webblog? It's already in the transcript. Thus, please do not add it again. -->

=== Real-World References ===
*The [[Strong Bad Email Intros|email intro]] is a reference to the [[A Tribe Called Quest]] song "{{w|People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm|Rhythm}}", as revealed by [[@StrongBadActual]] on {{prs|1090257655799652352|29|Jan|2019}}.
*"{{w|Linux kernel|Linux}}" is a {{w|Free software|Free}} {{w|Unix|Unix-like}} {{w|Kernel (computer science)|kernel}} originally written in 1991, or part of an entire operating system which uses this kernel ("{{w|Linux|GNU/Linux}}").
*[[Edgar#Edgarware|Edgarware]] is a spoof of {{w|Norton Utilities|Norton Anti-Virus}}, which until 2001 featured bespectacled programmer {{w|Peter Norton}} on the packaging.
*The part where Homestar is followed by "ghost" images of himself is a Flash in-joke, referring to the {{w|onion skinning}} feature of the program that will display translucent images of previous frames as an animation guide.
*"Click on the monkey" refers to various {{w|Pop-up ad}}s that compel users to click on an object (often resembling a game or promising a reward) to trick them into downloading malware.
*The dance The Cheat performs when Strong Bad says, "Let's do a dance for the computer genius man," looks like {{w|Dana Carvey}}'s "{{w|Church Lady}}" dance from the classic [[Saturday Night Live]] sketch.
*"{{w|Bourgeoise}}", one of the emoticons acting as Strong Sad's head, is the feminine form of the term used in {{w|Marxism}} to describe the middle or upper class that oppose the {{w|proletariat}} (working class) in the class struggle.
*The "ding" sound heard after EdgarWare finds the viruses is taken from {{w|Microsoft Windows}} versions ranging from Windows 98 to Windows XP.
*The screen "It's now safe to turn your computer off." is similar to the one displayed when shutting down a Windows computer that cannot turn itself off. The actual message is "It is now safe to turn off your computer", and the style of this message is taken from the {{w|Windows 9x}} series of operating systems.
*"A wise guy, eh?" was frequently muttered (in a very similar tone of voice to how Strong Bad says it) by {{w|Moe Howard}} of the comedy group [[The Three Stooges]].

===Fast Forward===
*The "like used" Easter egg would return in the [[Broken Compy Menu]], where Homestar buys the Compy, despite finding the price absurd.
*[[Main Page 22]] is based on this email.
*The shotgunned Compy would reappear along with the cracked [[Tandy 400|Tandy]] in [[retirement]].
*As part of the computer explosions montage in [[hremail 3184]], the Compy is shown being shotgunned from Bubs's point of view.
*Two of The Cheat's designs seen near the end (just before everything returns to normal) can be viewed as a few alternatives in the [[Everything Else, Volume 2|DVD]] release of [[The Reddest Radish]]; namely, the child's drawing and the crossing sign (but without the word "x-ing").
*The real "It's now safe to turn off your computer" screen appears in [[April Fool 2014]].
*Strong Bad draws a "Drop A [[Train]] On Em" virtual reality simulator on his [[@StrongBadActual|Twitter account]].
*On the HTML [[Index Page]] redesign, the sample email address in the mailing list sign-up is "EdgarJr@traindropper.com".
*"Very Yes" appears as an option to nerf the King of Town's food dumbness in [[2022 Costume Pack Now Available]].

== DVD Version ==
*The email is letterboxed to preserve the widescreen aspect ratio.
*The central pop-up (that is, the one that would actually pop up on the website version) does not appear.
*Unlike all other DVD emails, this has the [[Site Components#NavBar|navbar]] on the bottom.
*The way the Quote of the Week, Sketchbook, and Weekly Fanstuff Easter eggs work has changed. All three are combined into one Easter egg, which goes to the Weekly Fanstuff Easter egg, then the Quote of the Week Easter egg, and finally the Sketchbook Easter egg. However, the Quote of the Week egg is silent.
{{commentary|email=true}}
=== Commentary Transcript ===
('''Commentary by:''' [[Mike Chapman]], [[Matt Chapman]], [[Homestar Runner]])

'''MIKE:''' This email looks tiny, Matt.

'''MATT:''' It's a funny shape.

'''MIKE:''' It's smaller than the rest, and there's little words at the bottom.

'''MATT:''' This doesn't make any sense to me!

'''MIKE:''' What's going on?

'''MATT:''' S{{--}} Oh, no. Strong Bad must have gotten some type of a wirus!

'''MIKE:''' ''{laughs}'' Virus.

'''MATT:''' B{{--}} Pardon?

'''MIKE:''' Virus?

'''MATT:''' Oh. I used the German pronunciation.

'''MIKE:''' ''{laughs}'' Yeah?

'''MATT:''' Yeah.

'''MIKE:''' K. Um, so this was, uh, this was a{{--}} this email was kind of a big{{--}} big production.

'''MATT:''' Mm hmm.

'''MIKE:''' Took longer than most.

'''MATT:''' A long time in coming.

'''MIKE:''' Yeah. Um...

'''MATT:''' Yeah, see{{--}} he hasn't used "deleted" on the Lappy yet, now that he has a new computer, has he?

'''MIKE:''' I guess not. I wonder what it looks like when he deletes something on the Lappy.

'''MATT:''' I dunno. "Drop a train on 'em" was from a bad hip-hop song I made in college {{--}} ''{Mike laughs}''{{--}} where I sampled the soundtrack from a Dirty Harry movie.

'''MIKE:''' That's a good song.

'''MATT:''' Thanks.

''{Pause}''

'''MIKE:''' So this, obviously, was, uh, pretty fun to make where you could just kinda put stuff wherever and just...

'''MATT:''' It's more like ''your'' computer is getting the virus than Strong Bad's computer getting the virus.

'''MIKE:''' Yeah. The whole world is getting the virus.

'''MATT:''' Yeah. "Stave it off, 1, 2, 3" up there at the top.

'''MIKE:''' Mm hmm. There's uh, Strong Sad's head is the, uh, his little emoticons from the uh, his{{--}}

'''MATT:''' Strong Sad's Web journal.

'''MIKE:''' Strong Sad Journal.

'''MATT:''' That was from an unused character page we never made.

'''MIKE:''' Mm hmm.

''{Pause}''

'''MIKE:''' Say something good, Matt.

'''MATT:''' Uh{{--}}

'''MIKE:''' Make it{{--}} Make it funny.

'''MATT:''' All right. ''{adopts different tone}'' T{{--}} To{{--}} ''{normal voice}'' Oh, yeah, weren't we gonna do{{--}} I was going to be a character when we did this commentary.

'''MIKE:''' Oh yeah. Start doing Homestar.

'''MATT:''' All right...

''{Pause}''

'''HOMESTAR:''' That was a lot of me's.

'''MIKE:''' That ''was'' a lot of you's.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Mike, some of them were old me's that don't look so great.

'''MIKE:''' That's right. I thought you looked pretty good back in the old days.

'''HOMESTAR:''' No, no.

'''MIKE:''' Oh, you{{--}}

'''HOMESTAR:''' Look bad.

'''MIKE:''' Look Bad!

'''HOMESTAR:''' Yeah.

'''MIKE:''' Strong Bad.

'''HOMESTAR:''' That's a different character.

'''MIKE:''' ''{laughs}'' Who was Look Bad again?

'''HOMESTAR:''' Oh, what are they doing there? Is he gonna eat that doo-doo shovel?

'''MIKE:''' No, I think was going to take a picture of it, maybe.

'''HOMESTAR:''' But he doesn't have a camera, Mike.

'''MIKE:''' But the camera was offscreen.

'''HOMESTAR:''' He's got a mustache.

'''MIKE:''' The camera was offscreen.

'''HOMESTAR:''' He clearly wanted... a doo-doo-stache.

'''MIKE:''' Who's that, Homestar?

'''HOMESTAR:''' That looks kinda like Bubs, from Website. But I don't think so. Oh, look, it's ''Pitfall''.

'''MIKE:''' That did happen in ''Pitfall''.

'''HOMESTAR:''' If you flick the on and off switch a lot, you get a little floating Pitfall Harry through the trees!

'''MIKE:''' Oh, I like The Cheat's little sassy dance there, Homestar. Did you teach him that?

'''HOMESTAR:''' I did. Hands on hips!

'''MIKE:''' How'd you teach him that?

'''HOMESTAR:''' I said, "Hands on hips!"

'''MIKE:''' Look, there's your leg.

'''HOMESTAR:''' That is not my leg! That looks like a shotgun.

'''MIKE:''' Bu{{--}}

''{Pause}''

'''HOMESTAR:''' That shotgun looks dangerous, Mike. I don't agree with its appearance in this cartoon.

'''MIKE:''' You shouldn't play with shotguns, Homestar.

'''HOMESTAR:''' I don't, man.

'''MIKE:''' ''{laughs}'' Good.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Did you learn that the hard way?

'''MIKE:''' No.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Penny Hardaway?

'''MIKE:''' I'm allowed to{{--}} I'm allowed to draw them, though. Drawing them's no problem.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Drawing them is bad.

'''MIKE:''' No, I think it's okay.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Here I come!

'''MIKE:''' See?

'''HOMESTAR:''' Look! I lost my leg!

'''MIKE:''' I know, that's{{--}} Bubs{{--}} Bubs has it there.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Strong Bad looks like he's a little delirious in this part.

'''MIKE:''' He's{{--}} He's sad. He's had a great loss. People sometimes act like this... when they're experiencing great losses.

'''HOMESTAR:''' But{{--}} Mike, a great loss sounds like a contradiction.

'''MIKE:''' ''{laughs}''

'''HOMESTAR:''' I don't{{--}} I've never had any ''great'' losses.

'''MIKE:''' "Great"{{--}} "Great" meaning "large," not meaning{{--}}

'''HOMESTAR:''' All my losses are bad losses.

'''MIKE:''' You've never had a great loss?

'''HOMESTAR:''' Except maybe, some pounds. ''{Pause}'' He just really put a hole right through that thing, huh?

'''MIKE:''' Yeah. Didn't go through the wall, though.

'''HOMESTAR:''' Nope. ''{whispering}'' Let's get quiet.

'''MIKE:''' ''{whispering}'' Okay.

=== Fun Facts ===

* Matt says Strong Bad got a "wirus" and then calls this "the German pronunciation". This is because many native German speakers have difficulty distinguishing the "v" and "w" sounds in English and might thus say "wirus" instead of "virus". 
* Homestar demonstrates his ignorance that he has [[Lack of Visible Arms|no visible hands or arms]].
* [[Wikipedia:Penny Hardaway|Penny Hardaway]] is a professional basketball player who has played guard for the [[Wikipedia:National Basketball Association|NBA]]'s Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and New York Knicks.
* The "bad hip-hop song" Matt is referring to can be heard [http://web.archive.org/web/20110717052438/http://www.thoraxcorp.com/mp3s/Mr.MC_1973.mp3 here].

== YouTube Version ==
*The [[YouTube]] description for this email is "Strong Bad's Compy 386 gets a virus."
*In order to accommodate the surprise [[widescreen]] effects, such as Strong Bad jumping out of the frame and Homestar picking up the navbar words, the email is presented in a much smaller frame surrounded by a large black border, and the navbar is also present in the video.
*Prior to the removal of all annotations on YouTube on January 15, 2019, there was a 5-second, unedited annotation that appeared at 0:05 and disappeared at 0:10. As it was not edited, it contained the text "Enter your text here".
*The Quote of the Week, Sketchbook, and Fanstuff Easter eggs are not included.

== See Also ==
* [[Main Page 22]]
* [[Virus Character Variations]]

== External Links ==
{{sbemailextlinks|118|1284|youtube=Az49aNuYeJs}}
*[[OldHR:hsmakeout.html|view the "click the monkey" popup]]
*[[OldHR:hsmakeout.swf|view the Flash file for the "click the monkey" popup]]
*[[OldHR:qod virus.swf|view the Flash file for the fake QOD]]
*[[OldHR:fanstuff virus.swf|view the Flash file for the fake fanstuff]]
*[[OldHR:sketchbook virus.swf|view the Flash file for the fake sketchbook]]

{{Strong Bad Email}}

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