Kids book where boy and girl find laptop from space [duplicate]

Question

I remember reading this kids book around 2008-2012 (probably on the earlier side). The book couldn't have been too old at the time as it made reference to laptops, CD games and joysticks so likely from the 2000's.

There was a boy and girl who lived on a military base. One of them, the boy I think, found a laptop which was made by aliens in space. Somehow the aliens were trying to active something through the laptop and the boy and girl had to fend them off by playing games on it.

The first one was a flight sim type game and the boy plugged a joystick in to fight off the virus.

The second was a chess game. The girl put in a CD chess game and played against the virus on a 3-D chess board.

I think there was a third round but I don't remember what it was or who played it. There could have been another person there. The laptop had the ability to morph to fit both the controller port and the cd.

The cover of the book was space full of stars. There were two speech bubbles coming from different parts of space. I don't remember what the first one said, but the second said "No Thanks" or "We're Good", something like that.

I think it was the setup for a series but I don't remember if there was more. Even though I was young at the time, I remember the plot not being very well written so it might not have gotten any follow-up books.

Answer 1

Probably the Outernet series as per A book (mid 2000s) about a kid getting an old laptop that connects him to aliens, the alien government (I think) coming after him?

On Jack Armstrong's birthday, he received a laptop computer from his parents, British residents working on a US military base. They have been having financial problems so he is grateful for the gift. He explores it with his friend Lothar Gelt (nicknamed Loaf) and their acquaintance Merle Stone, where they discover it is a piece of alien technology. Once turned on, it enables them to communicate with a stray dog around the base named "Bitz", who tells them he is actually code-named Sirius (a pun on the "Dog Star" of the same name). He and Merle's apparent cat (named Googie, code-name Vega), are both members of the "Friends", a group dedicated to resistance of The Tyrant, who leads the FOEs (Forces of Evil). Specifically, they are shape-shifters who have become permanently trapped in these Earth creature forms. They explain how The Tyrant has captured all of the servers in the Galaxy except for the one that Sirius and his companion Janus brought to Earth and disguised as the computer. The Server's "Help" program, which activates whenever its name is said, is sardonic and fails to live up to its name. Jack receives further proof of the truth of these odd revelations when he is teleported (called t-mailed) to meet Janus on another planet (teleportation through "N-Space" enables the characters to travel faster-than-light).

Loaf exploits this and galavants around the Galaxy (it is always capitalised in the series) irresponsibly enough for the FOEs to imprison some of the Earth resistance. Janus rescues them, but a Bug (an extraterrestrial resembling a rhinoceros, in The Tyrant's employ) follows them to Earth when Tracer, The Tyrant's right-hand man, sends a "western" virus into the Server. Merle fends it off with her chess skill and Loaf resists it with an arcade-style simulation, but when Jack is playing Battleship, Bitz leaps onto the keyboard, over-ruling Merle's advice, and hits the wrong button. This allows the Bug to arrive on Earth; however, Janus arrives shortly thereafter. In the battle that ensues, Janus and the Bug both fall into N-Space, presumably dead, Janus sacrificing himself for the Server's safety. A message to them sent on time-delay reveals them they can either remain safe on Earth for Friends agents to find them, or search for the enigmatic Weaver, founder of the Outernet.

Found via a search for ya book alien laptop -alienware