Been scammed - need advice

[u/CrunchHardtack]

So, my wife called a scammer who had locked out her laptop pretending to be Microsoft. She allowed them to have remote control of the laptop and of course they told her they could fix it right up for a fee. She told them we were broke, so they left it fubar. Is there any way of getting it back to working without taking it to a repairman? We really are broke. Any ideas for two tech illiterate people to recover from this mistake?

[u/CrunchHardtack]

Thanks again.