The file was named Catzilla_Setup.exe . She double-clicked it. A tiny window popped up: "Catzilla wants to install additional offers. Accept?"

The scan found 142 threats.

"Last," Tiny said, "reset your browser settings and delete your temp files. That’s where Catzilla hides its litter box of junk data."

"First," Tiny instructed, "don't panic. Go to your Control Panel. Uninstall anything installed in the last ten minutes with 'Catzilla' or 'Mega Filter Pack' in the name."

Within seconds, her browser homepage became a "Catzilla Search" engine that redirected every query to ads for catnip toys. Her taskbar sprouted a dancing kitten that ate her RAM for breakfast. Worst of all, every time she tried to save her design file, a pixelated paw swiped it into a folder labeled MEOW_MEOW_MEOW , which duplicated itself every minute.