The Top 10 Most Evil Computers

It's election day, and while the future of our regional and national governments may seem like a big deal, the chaps over at C/NET U.K. have given us something really important to argue about: which fictional computer is the baddest of them all.

In a blog, C/NET U.K. offers up 10 humdingers from the annals of computerphobia:

1. HAL 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Proteus IV from the movie Demon Seed
3. "The Changeling" from the TV series Star Trek
4. Ultimate Computer from the movie Superman III
5. Max from the comic book The Thirteenth Floor
6. GLaDOS from the computer game Portal
7. MODOK, from Marvel Comics's Tales of Suspense
8. Queeg 500 from the sci-fi series Red Dwarf
9. Skynet from the movie series The Terminator
10. Boss from the TV series Doctor Who

We could argue some of these -- for example, we think the M5 computer from Star Trek's "The Ultimate Computer" episode was badder than Nomad. And what about the nasty command-and-control device that almost destroyed humanity in Independence Day?"

Got a computer that's not on this list? Maybe that botnet-infected sucker you're working on right now? Post your ideas to our message board. Nobody loves evil computers like we do.

— Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading