Cooling-off period for destructive software

In a computer system, a user action can cause a computer program to perform actions which may destroy data stored on the computer or on an associated computer. User actions are managed to reduce this possibility by testing the consequences of the user action and if the consequences of the user action are benign, the user action is completed. If the consequences are not benign, a delay period prior to completing the user action is initiated. During this delay period, the user is able to cancel the user action.