Shockwave, IIRC, is sort of the precursor to the dreaded Flash. Now, under normal circumstances I wouldn't let anything remotely Flash-related touch my PC, but I really want to play this game (In Memoriam, a sort of ARG where you have to do real-world research to solve puzzles on the disc, which is supposedly a set of clues left behind by a serial killer holding some journalists hostage).

So... how risky is it to have Shockwave on a PC in this day and age? Is it so obsolete that viruses have stopped targetting its no doubt numerous security holes, or will just having the CD in the vicinity of my drive leave me wide open? And is there anything I can do to play it safely (aside from the VM route, because VMs are still beyone me)

I don't think there's even a version of Shockwave that would run on any modern OS's, so that in mind it won't be bringin any issues on your day to day use machine.

If you are able to find a way to not allow the program to access the Internet and don't feed it untrusted input, it should be safe.

Edit: For example, try running it in a Virtual Machine that has no access to the outside Internet.

We installed Shockwave Player fairly recently on some 64-bit Windows 7 PC's due to one course using an online application built with it (though I do wonder how those starting this year will handle it with the Chromebooks they've got). Of course, I'm not certain it works on Windows 10, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does (likely not in Edge, but Explorer or anything supporting NPAPI, such as Pale Moon, probably works just fine).

EDIT: Also, VM's are not as scary as they might seem. As long as you have a valid spare license for the OS in question, and the game isn't heavy on 3D, you should be up and running fairly quickly with VirtualBox (inquire for instructions, I'll try to help though I'm not on Windows at the moment so details may differ and I'm sure others will aid as well).

Maybe you'll find something here

http://inmemoriam.softbreakers.com/

If you worry about security you could always try to install shockwave & game inside some kind of isolation software like Sandboxie. Can't say for sure if the game works that way, but if it does - you should be perfectly safe.

I was thinking of this game recently when someone was asking about games tied to real world time.

I'm genuinely surprised that someting as archaic as Shocwave would run without any hitch on a 64-bit OS.It's not like it was the most stable piece of software to begin with.

You can think of a VM as a simulated computer, which is not technically accurate for pedants but it makes it easier to grok from the point of a non-technical end user. All you need to do is download a free copy of the software, install it like any other program then start it up and follow the self-explanatory wizard. There are a variety of virtual machines available but most people likely favour a free one than paying for one. VMWare Player and VirtualBox are free to download and use. VMware Player has some limitations but for the average user just using a VM to run a game or similar the limitations minor and nothing to be concerned about. It's also arguably the most reliable and stable. VirtualBox is open source and has no imposed "trial" limitations per se. It works pretty good too but not nearly as stable and robust, but for the average user it is far more than adequate as well.

Simply grab either of these programs and install it and then start it up and follow the wizard to create a virtual machine. It's merely a matter of telling the wizard what you want the virtual computer to be comprised of. How many CPU cores, what percentage of your real CPU's resources do you want to allow the VM to have, what OS do you plan on installing on it, how much virtual hard disk space do you want to give the VM, how much RAM to give the VM and other similar questions. Once you've configured the VM itself, it will create a file on your hard disk for the virtual machine hard disk image. Then you just click on the start button to power on the virtual machine, pop in a CD/DVD of the OS you want to install, and go ahead and install the OS like you would on a real physical computer. That's really all there is to it, it isn't some big complicated confusing thing really, just a virtual computer running within a window inside an application. It's not much different in that respect from running a Nintendo emulator or MAME or something other than that you get to configure the virtual PC to the specifications you desire, and you're free to reconfigure it later on if you need to add more memory or CPU cores or similar.

Once you have the OS set up, both VMware and VirtualBox have a special software addon called "tools" or "toolbox" or similar and you should install that within the virtualized operating system as it provides better driver support and improved functionality for various things within the virtual machine that make life easier (simplified explanation).

In general, 3D games do not particularly work very well, however old 2D games from yesteryear should run fine more or less.

Virtual machines are easy to install and use, and once you set one up and use it for a while you are likely to think of all kinds of new uses for them that can be extremely useful. For example, making a basic OS install into a VM and making a backup copy of it that you clone whenever you want to test out some software you don't want to install on your real OS in case it messes something up. That includes running programs that you're worried may contain spyware or other malware for example. Once you use the application inside your VM and are done with it, you simply delete the entire VM. Next time you want to do that with another test program, you clone the template VM again and use the clone to test the program out, then delete it again when you're done.

Zillions of uses, and it is really easy to set up. Nothing complicated and no steep learning curve or anything like that.

Don't fear virtual machines.

One thing to note: If you are installing an ancient version of Windows (like Windows 95), giving it too much RAM will cause it to not boot. I've read the limit is something like 480 MB or something for Windows 95, and you probably only want to give it much less (something like 32MB would probably work in that case).

One nice thing about VMs is that you can make this decision.

Could you even play In Memoriam? IIRC there were a fair bit of url's involved that were set up specifically for the game, and are more than likely dead for years now.

Yeah, you need to configure the VM appropriately as to what the OS's minimum requirements and potentially maximum as well. :) Windows 95 would also puke on any processor over 300MHz or so (AMD, not sure what Intel CPU speed might trigger it). They put out a patch to fix it but that just caused a catch-22 because you couldn't install the OS and then patch it because the OS would run to install the patch. :)

If I remember correctly that bug was what caused me to move to Win98SE. To be honest though I can't think of any reason why I'd ever want to install Windows 95 again. Anything that worked in 95 should work in 98SE and the latter was a much better OS all around.