Mrs. HM Does Not Take The Bait

Mrs. HM has some advice for scammers: "Take a long walk off a short pier. It's not so easy to lure Mrs. HM. She refuses to take the bait."

I was happily clicking away on HIPPIE this morning. Having my morning banana and Maple Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal, perusing the UK Daily Mail. Gotta keep up with world events and gossip, you know. I can't even remember what story I was reading. I had just gone to the comments and read a couple when a blue box popped up, covering most of the screen. And it TALKED to me! A computer woman's voice.

This was a most unwanted intrusion! That bright blue screen was telling me there had been a security breach. That my computer had been LOCKED. That my IP address was being used for identity theft. That I should not attempt to close the screen or shut down my computer, because I could lose all my data. That I should call Microsoft at a phone number listed on the screen.

Dang it! I just wanted to finish my oatmeal and read those comments. That blue screen could not be closed. The X in the corner did not respond to my clicking. And more of the same screen were popping up. Like that cascade in Solitaire! Only not as many, and not as fast. The ESCAPE key didn't work, either. There was no way to access the tab at the top of the screen. It was covered by that first big blue pop-up box. My only option was to hold down the power button until HIPPIE shut down.

After a few minutes, I turned HIPPIE on again. He went through his regular start-up routine. I clicked the Microsoft Edge icon to access the internet. It's the browser I have been using for about a year, ever since Google Chrome went crazy and wouldn't load.

Welp! The first thing that came up was not my Edge browser screen, but that dang conglomeration of those blue boxes. At least NOW there was the tab up top. I X-ed out of it. Then tried my Edge icon again. And there was my browser screen as normal.

It's not nice to fool Mrs. HM. At least she's no fool. My mom would have panicked, and called the number listed on that blue box for "Microsoft Support" to unlock her computer. In fact, I'm sure she did one time, and talked for 30 minutes, and was waiting for a gal to call her back. Luckily, we stopped her before she gave away any personal information.