His mouse cursor began moving on its own, sliding toward his browser. It opened his saved passwords. It navigated to his banking portal.
Suddenly, his screen didn't show updated drivers. Instead, a lime-green terminal window popped up, scrolling lines of code faster than he could read. His webcam light flickered on, a tiny, judgmental green eye staring back at him.
His computer had been acting like a cranky toddler—freezing during games and blue-screening whenever he tried to open more than two tabs. A "free" fix felt like a gift from the digital gods. "Just one click," he whispered.
He had wanted a shortcut to a faster computer. Instead, he’d just handed the keys to his digital life to a ghost in the machine.