That sucked. Two mornings ago started my morning routine. Culminated in getting on the laptop to hit my daily forums. Black screen. Tried and tried with assorted "boot" methods. Zero. Fortunately, I had made bootable disks. Zero success. I figure the cpu died. Destroyed the lap top in order to remove the hard drive. Ordered an enclosure for the harddrive in the hopes I can retrieve my files, pics, apps, etc. Received a new laptop yesterday and spent the evening getting it "personalized". Missed 2 days here and 46 unread posts vs a typical 4-8. Now I'm gonna create an "image" of this new Windows 11 and set it up on a regular "daily" backup schedule. Not sure yet as to backup software.
As I was on my phone googling Microsoft crap in relation to setting up the new laptop, long story short, I ended up speaking with "Microsoft support" trying to get a new password. Had no idea what the old one was. Due to doing a zillion steps and a terrible connection with overseas - types, I was on the phone close to 2 hours.
They had me download 2 apps from the Google Play Store which appeared to allow them to access my phone. Near the end, they asked me if I did any online banking, did I have PayPal, etc. They actually wanted me to log into them to search foe any "suspicious" activity. That continued for a couple of minutes til I had no doubt they were going after my accts. I exploded after being on the phone all that time. Told them what they could do. They actually cussed me and I hung up. I immediately uninstalled those 2 apps and then removed them from my list of active / inactive apps in the Google Play Store. During all this, they were having trouble with a website they were trying to send me to. I had no idea what it was. Just thought it was part of the process. the website is named "helpz9.top" which turns out to be a big time scammer site. Fortunately for me, my IP blocked my access to that site. I have an excellent local IP associated with my electric co-op. They're growing by leaps and bounds.
Odd thing is, When I was searching (Google) for Microsoft customer support, their url had nothing slightly different or any of that. Scumbags are really getting sophisticated.
As I was on my phone googling Microsoft crap in relation to setting up the new laptop, long story short, I ended up speaking with "Microsoft support" trying to get a new password. Had no idea what the old one was. Due to doing a zillion steps and a terrible connection with overseas - types, I was on the phone close to 2 hours.
They had me download 2 apps from the Google Play Store which appeared to allow them to access my phone. Near the end, they asked me if I did any online banking, did I have PayPal, etc. They actually wanted me to log into them to search foe any "suspicious" activity. That continued for a couple of minutes til I had no doubt they were going after my accts. I exploded after being on the phone all that time. Told them what they could do. They actually cussed me and I hung up. I immediately uninstalled those 2 apps and then removed them from my list of active / inactive apps in the Google Play Store. During all this, they were having trouble with a website they were trying to send me to. I had no idea what it was. Just thought it was part of the process. the website is named "helpz9.top" which turns out to be a big time scammer site. Fortunately for me, my IP blocked my access to that site. I have an excellent local IP associated with my electric co-op. They're growing by leaps and bounds.
Odd thing is, When I was searching (Google) for Microsoft customer support, their url had nothing slightly different or any of that. Scumbags are really getting sophisticated.
![[-]](https://www.alpharomeo15.org/images/roundo/collapse_collapsed.png)
