I have just come back online a short time ago after frantically working around the clock for about 48 hours to restore my PC to proper working order. I suffered through a major computer crash with multiple BSoD's ("Blue Screens of Death"), which ultimately necessitated my complete reinstallation of Windows 7 Pro.
Who knows, I might also have been the target for a nasty DDoS ("Distributed Denial-of-Service") cyber attack, as apparently had happened to several firms across the globe at about the same time that I was indisposed.
This meant that I effectively lost* all of my old data files, programs, and settings through that entire process in order to restore my PC (and myself) to some semblance of normalcy. I have never before seen so many BSoD's in such a short time; it was like being caught in an angry, tempestuous storm on a billowing ocean, with wave after wave constantly confronting me (and challenging my software navigation skills).
I must admit that it had me licked for awhile, as I exhausted every trick in the book--as well as some tricks I developed on my own after several years of geeking around with PC's as a longtime nerd. I can thank my dual-booted installation of Ubuntu Linux (recommended to me by my near-genius son) from saving me from complete and utter disaster, however.
Just maybe, Donald Trump could be onto something vis-à-vis his soon-to-be counterpart Vladimir Putin. As in the world of geopolitics, I have retained the services of a well-known Russian security firm to once again watch over my PC. Some might object by saying, "Isn't that like having a fox guard the hen house?"--to which I would answer, "Perhaps, but have you ever heard of the saying, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'?"
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*All right, I didn't actually "lose" my original files; they were saved by the Win7 reformatting process to a folder named "Windows.old"--but who wants to get technical about it?
