new to this forum- need help

Hi, I'm glad I found this forum, and I hope someone here can help. I don't have much tech knowledge, and don't understand most of the terminology.

FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS I've been having ongoing and often extreme problems with hacking and hacking attempts. It's occurred on two different computers. I've been using all the security precautions I know of, but nothing has helped.
When the last Microsoft rep. I chatted with reminded me I've had 2-step verifications, and I added nobody could guess my passwords, a person on a "seniors" forum said passwords are 'stored in the cloud' and that's how hackers are bypassing the TSV to get the passwords for my email accounts. I don't know what a cloud is, but if it's on these two computers is there a way to get rid of it?

My newest computer (not this one) is Windows 10. It was a gift from a trustworthy family member who set everything up before mailing it to me. While I do not have wifi, never log in to onedrive, and have sync turned off, one concern is the login screen is a separate outlook account that I must log into to get into the computer. I'm wondering if doing so opens the computer to hacking- and if there's a way to change the login screen to something that's also password-protected but not an account?

The computer I'm currently on is Windows7. I got it from Walmart in 2014. The login screen requires a password I chose, but don't seem to be connected to anything else. I stopped using it because of the hacking, but I've had it so long it says low battery when I start it up.

So the problem can't be a specific computer, it's been happening on both. Hackers get in, change my TSV, remove my phone number, and heaven knows what else. The email that was hacked in 2018 was hotmail, and my most recent outlook account was hacked twice within a couple of days around a week ago. I now have a non-microsoft email account, but don't know if that's safe either- is this cloud thing only related to microsoft accounts, or are all accounts I have in danger?
Can someone here please help?

What is TSV?

Is Outlook the only thing you use for email? What is the non-Microsoft email account---Gmail? Thunderbird? Cox?

Are you the only human who has direct access to your PCs, directly from your keyboard?

ignatzatsonic said:

What is TSV?

Is Outlook the only thing you use for email? What is the non-Microsoft email account---Gmail? Thunderbird? Cox?

Are you the only human who has direct access to your PCs, directly from your keyboard?

TSV = two-step verification.
Logging in with password is supposed to send a security code to either my phone or a separate email. I did not receive the codes when the hackings occurred, nor did I receive security alerts from microsoft when I was hacked.

I've used various emails- gmail, hushmail, etc. From what I could see, they were never accessed/hacked.

Yes, I'm the only person who uses these PC's. Plus I never access email or anything else on the web from phone, public places, etc., only my own home computers.

"The cloud" is a purposely nebulous term, but for practical purposes it means some other computer or database other than your own PCs.

If you have online access to your bank accounts or your stock market accounts or utility bills, then "the cloud" is involved. Your bank or your broker or your utility company are supposed to protect your password, but there are countless examples where that has failed.

ignatzatsonic said:

"The cloud" is a purposely nebulous term, but for practical purposes it means some other computer or database other than your own PCs.

If you have online access to your bank accounts or your stock market accounts or utility bills, then "the cloud" is involved. Your bank or your broker or your utility company are supposed to protect your password, but there are countless examples where that has failed.

If the cloud is the problem, is there a way I can get rid of it entirely so there's no access to my computer/passwords?

Sunkist123 said:

If the cloud is the problem, is there a way I can get rid of it entirely so there's no access to my computer/passwords?

Not much. You don't have any control over what your bank does with your account passwords.

You could give up online access to various accounts.

You could use a local email client like Thunderbird for email.

Do you have any reason to think someone is obtaining your passwords directly from your own PC------rather than from your bank or broker?

ignatzatsonic said:

Not much. You don't have any control over what your bank does with your account passwords.

You could give up online access to various accounts.

You could use a local email client like Thunderbird for email.

Do you have any reason to think someone is obtaining your passwords directly from your own PC------rather than from your bank or broker?

No, I don't think anyone could be accessing them directly. From what I've noticed in the multiple hackings, hackers get into my microsoft email accounts, and could access anything connected through those accounts, but not anything else directly.

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Berton said:

Cloud isn't mentioned on my computer but OneDrive is and I believe that is the Cloud. Then there's iCloud provided by Apple. iCloud

OneDrive is listed in Programs and Features and can be uninstalled but a caveat is that the next Version Upgrade you receive may reinstall it.

OneDrive is on my Windows10 PC, but I never sign into it.
However, this PC I'm using is W7, and OneDrive doesn't seem to be on it.

Suppose you are in court in front of a judge and jury.

What's your best evidence your accounts have been compromised? The full details.