His personal photos and documents were encrypted. Adware: His browser was hijacked.
Mark clicked on a forum link that looked slightly more legitimate than others. It had a few positive comments (likely fake) and a direct download link for a .zip file. The file was named something like PowerISO_8.3_Keygen_Patch.zip . poweriso-v8-3-crack-registration-code-full-version-2022
Instead of saving money, Mark spent the next weekend reformatting his computer and losing irreplaceable files. He realized that "free" crack files are a primary delivery method for malware. His personal photos and documents were encrypted