Configuring a Windows PC For a Senior Citizen?

An anonymous reader writes "I would like to know if there are any resources on the Web or elsewhere describing how to configure a Windows PC for an older parent not living in the same household. Assume little computer familiarity or aptitude. Some stuff is obvious, like using only a few large icons for favorite Web sites, or an icon perhaps for composing email and another for checking email. Other considerations are eliminating nuisance messages from Windows update and antivirus/firewall. What works and what doesn't? Can anyone who has worked/volunteered at a senior center offer some insights?"

Install Ubuntu

[Peeloo (760936)]

I've had the same problem with my parents for years, going back home each Christmas to reformat windows and spending the week getting the configuration back to normal. For the last 3 years they've used Ubuntu, with some problem with the printer the first few months, but now I'm just spending a few minutes pushing the "Upgrade Version" button instead of a total reformat. They can check their mail/internet and you don't have to worry about virus/firewall, win-win :)

Re:Install Ubuntu

[by Anonymous Coward]

Strongly agree. This is the approach I took with technically-deficient people, and it works great.

Windows is the worst choice for this set up. It literally breaks by itself, and remains by an astronomical margin the main target of crackers, spam, phishing, viruses, etc. Trying to keep it going is a lot of work.

The one (and only IMO) major advantage it has is the availability of options (software, hardware), and if this isn't important - which it isn't, in the set up you're describing - then look to the alternatives.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[ubrgeek (679399)]

Not to nitpick, but the comment, "It literally breaks by itself" isn't true, IMO. Third-party components in patches, etc. are most often the blame. Or malware. But that hardly constitutes breaking by itself. Especially in terms of "literally" doing so. I'm far from a fan of the OS, being a huge Mac fanboy (I have one Vista box in the house so I can see what the fuss is about. The other six are Macs and an Ubuntu file server for backups) but the statement isn't accurate.

All that said, I concur with using Ubuntu. Much more user friendly for the elderly or those less computer adept.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[BrentH (1154987)]

Thing is, Windows systems do appear to accumulate clutter, no matter how you use it. Be it viruses or spyware (a big problem with senior citizens, in fact all non computer aficionados) or all the updates from the basic software utils you need (Adobe reader, Quicktime, some sort of Office suite), Windows itself even. I find that a Linux system (Ubuntu in particular for me) takes all that away. Of course, no viruses or spyware, and a central updatemanager that knows what it does and doesnt accumulate cruft in the way Windows does.

If you want maintenance free, go with Ubuntu.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[paganizer (566360)]

Huh.
I guess I'm doing it wrong.
I started with 2 partitions, FAT32 & NTFS, installed Win2k Pro, then patched it up.
Installed Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.15, Firefox (with adblock, firenes, and IEview plugins), SpyBot, irfanview, media player classic, WinAmp 2.95, RealVNC server 4.0, adobe 5 (this was before Foxit 3 came out), their HP all-in-one printer software, DivX, Xvid & various other codec packs, Audacity (my dads a musician [youtube.com]), open office (my moms a writer [yahoo.com]), Shockwave, Mozilla Thunderbird, Juno (my moms been using it since it was free dial-up, she likes the interface), winzip, Winrar, 7z, notepad++, JAVA, AVG, Picasa (when it came out), and thats essentially it.
Then, a script to rar the "my documents" folder to the 1st partition at bootup once a week, incrementing rar filename each time; chkdsk /f every 2 weeks at startup, and defrag every 3 weeks.
Disable all phone-home software, including windows update; to be safe, several domains are pointed to localhost in the HOSTS file. remove all IE & OE icons, put shortcuts for everything they are likely to need in the alluser profile. Select registry changes to turn off some of the more obnoxious windows stuff.
After installing all this and making sure everything plays well with each other, I then ghosted the 2nd partion to a compressed image on the 1st.
They have 2 emergency CD's; the first blows away the NTFS partition, then recreates it from the image on the 1st partition
The 2nd is KNOPPIX; if they can't get ahold of me or think that I need to look at things before they use the other emergency CD. I also encourage them to just play around with it.
This has worked perfectly for the last 3+ years; if they get suspicious about something, I just come in through VNC viewer and take a look; probably every day for the first 2 weeks, then maybe once a week, now maybe once a month, if that. TPF turned on to paranoid mode doesn't let anything get in or get installed without a pop-up telling you about it. I go ahead and update & run SpyBot whenever I come in for a peek (BTW, one of the recent SPyBot updates has started really screwing with the registry; it's optimized for XP and just causes Win2k's registry to expand); I usually update the virus definitions at the same time, and delete some of the older "My Documents" backups.
They've usedthe emergency restore CD once, about 2 years ago; I need to update the image on my next visit.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Just Some Guy (3352)]

With all that necessary just to run an end-user system, Windows will never be ready for the desktop.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[calmofthestorm (1344385)]

This is the year of the Windows desktop!

Re:Install Ubuntu

[by Anonymous Coward]

Dude, read what you just wrote. If you are serious, I would like to know how much you charge your folks for support.

Score: 5 Ridiculous

Go Ash!

[darkvizier (703808)]

So what you're saying is you're like Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness [imdb.com]. Seems like a lot of work to protect a few people, but it is entertaining. :-]

From what you've written, I'm assuming you're a Windows admin professionally. The solution you've found fits well in that light. But for the people out there that aren't Windows admins, there are much easier ways to get to a satisfactory result.

Have you tried Kubuntu? Most of the functionality you mentioned would already be installed and configured correctly, and the package manager makes installing new apps and updating old ones a breeze. You've also got a lot more flexibility for writing custom backup scripts and such.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[d3ac0n (715594)]

1) It's called "Add Programs", a nice little gui utility in the main Ubuntu menu.

2) Ubuntu doesn't even come with vi installed as part of the base distribution. It does have Gedit though.

3) I haven't had to TOUCH an xorg.conf file in 3 years of using Ubuntu.

Welcome to 2008. How are things going back there in 2005?

Re:Install Ubuntu

[cayenne8 (626475)]

Honestly, for an older, technically deficient person, I think the easiest way to set things up for them to easily use a computer...is to do Apple.

That's what I'm about to do for my mom. I tried windows with her, and honestly, I was surprised to see how much trouble she had with a mouse...when she started getting the movement down...the 2 button thing just killed her.

I run mostly linux, some solaris, one windows xp box at home..and an older iBook I picked up. I've shown her the OSX on the iBook...and she seemed to be able to get around on it.

So, I think it would be perfect for her....the 'it just works thing' will be good for her. The updates are pretty regular from Apple and security is pretty good. I think I can also set up her box to allow me to ssh into it, and admin it remotely (I live out of state) for her when things go bad.

I'm not up here more than once or twice a year...so, quick set up after buying and all are important to me...so, in a couple days, I can buy it...set it up for her pretty much right out of the box...and spend most of my limited time with her showing her how to use it, rather than setting things up...which customizing a linux install would likely consume more of.

And honestly...well, Mom is also concerned about how things 'look' around the house. The stylish iMac appeals to her sense of decor....so, that alone is a motivating factor for getting it for her. If it looks nice out...she will not have it stuck back in a hidden part of the house, where it would sit and not be used as much...etc..

Re:Install Ubuntu

[neonfrog (442362)]

What breaks my parents Windows PC isn't their use - it's OTHER people: other family members, wacky in-laws, visitors, well-meaning friends, grand-kids (aged 4 to 40), neighbors.

I find I am often building a machine a COMMUNITY will use. If it isn't a Windows machine, then someone in the community will eventually talk them into Windows (and botch the install and lose all their pictures - been there). When some other "expert" tells them how to do something, they think they are saving *me* time by letting them! Almost never works out that way, though...

So I setup the Windows machine as best I can such that anybody can sit down and use it. That means Windows and lots of good practices. Make a locked-down visitors account, etc. (much good stuff in other posts). If people sit down and the machine just works they are way less tempted to try and break it.

For example I always install iTunes and WMP in ways that are non-nagging and safe. I used to install Winamp and hide WMP, but then iTunes would get installed by SOMEBODY and someone else would try Windows Media Player and enable default DRM crap thereby breaking iTunes, and the RealPlayer would get on there and break it all over again - result = me doing tech support. So I set it up the right way and when they use it, it just works (even RealPlayer!) and they aren't tempted to "fix" it better. Been quite stable this way and my parents don't have to play PC cop or Ubuntu Guru for their extended family and friends. I get the occasional toolbar in Firefox you don't want, but their machine is often the most workable of their community.

Ubuntu would NOT work for their community. Neither I nor my folks can educate them all. Unfortunately the same is true of the Mac. I use all 3 OSes, BTW, and prefer Ubuntu for myself.

If your parents have no friends or family, then, by all means, set them up with Ubuntu or a Mac. But if they are a community hub like mine are, you're best bet is to cater to the community and enable it (in a sand-boxed way) to work the way they expect and that's Windows, done right.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[silanea (1241518)]

Second that. My mother had avoided any and all contact with computers up until a year ago. I slapped Ubuntu on my old notebook, gave her a crash course in "doing things with that machine" and happiness ensued. She does ask me things from time to time, but so far she hasn't been able to break anything.

Particularly the update management comes in handy: On Windows every program has its own confusing and annoying way of locating updates. On Linux you get one window asking you for one click.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[austin987 (1233720)]

Agree with parent. While many /.'ers are probably using some version of linux already, it's really a good solution for parents, etc. A few years ago, my mother's PC died after a bunch of virii and finally a hard drive failure. I built a new one and told her I was tired of fixing all those problems, and she was going to try something new. Installed Ubuntu (Dapper or Edgy IIRC), made sure her e-mail/favorite websites worked and gave it to her. Aside from having to explain how to install updates, she hasn't had a problem to date.

On a similar note, I gave my grandmother an old laptop and stripped out most of the ubuntu install, and filled it with lots of games. Locked down her account so she can't screw anything up, removed all shortcuts except games. She has bad insomnia, and enjoys playing the card games/mahjong at night. Works well for her, aside from her occasionally unplugging it instead of shutting it down properly (I'm going to set it to mount / as read only to prevent this when I go there for holidays).

Long story short, seriously consider using Ubuntu, the learning curve for it is much easier than teaching them to avoid spyware/virii.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[by Anonymous Coward]

my mother's PC died after a bunch of virii

The plural of virus is viruses

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Hognoxious (631665)]

My platypii died of a virus, you insensitive clod!

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Kijori (897770)]

And the plural of "pedant" is Slashdot. :D

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Dr_Barnowl (709838)]

That would be a collective noun, not a plural.

I'll get my coat....

Re:Install Ubuntu

[by Anonymous Coward]

I know Fanboy Homos will get crazy and crucify me for what I will say but this is was my experience:
Like a good fanboy linux advocate, I installed Ubuntu on all my elderly relatives computers, my grand-dad, dad and mom, they all live on different houses, and hours of plane travel from me.
So, I even installed VNC so I could manage their GUI desktops if necessary. I showed them the pretty Gnome GUI and the pretty browsers and how to use e-mail, so they were pretty happy.
But, then it started: they couldn't access their preferred websites, because flash didn't install properly. So, I had to teach a 80 year's old how to untar and copy a library over to the mozilla directory, which was a pretty gruesome experience.
Well, Ubuntu was such a piece of crap for them that they started to call me screaming they need their good windows computers back because their friends were going to websites and they couldn't do the same.
So, as result, my elderly relatives found a Windows tech guy, the guy installed XP on their machines, and they were happy again.
I had to pay for their installations, but wasn't able to avoid being banished from family forever, thanks to the fanboyish failure machine: Ubuntu.
This Xmas, the windows tech guy will be seating at their Xmas dinner table while I will be eating Macaroni and Cheese from my microwave, alone at my house.
So, my advice to this guy asking about his elderly relative: Do not follow the fanboys here as they don't have real families and WoW NPCs really like when their kids or grandkids install Ubuntu on their PCs, but real people don't.
Do like this: Find a store selling LEGIT Windows XP copies. Buy one, install it, activate automatic updates. Install a good AUTOMATIC anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware. Install Firefox and all the plugins. MAKE SURE THAT FIREFOX WORKS!!!!! (stupid FOSS...) Then activate Remote Desktop so you can fix the machine remotely. And, voila, you got a happy relative with a happy computer.
And you can have happy Xmases forever, without have to being cursed because of the homo-fanboy F*ckuntu...

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Just Some Guy (3352)]

This Xmas, the windows tech guy will be seating at their Xmas dinner table while I will be eating Macaroni and Cheese from my microwave, alone at my house.

Just go upstairs, already. Your mom will be happy to see you again.

Re:Install Ubuntu with / ro

[suckmysav (763172)]

"1.) /tmp is still under /, which he wants to mount read only "

See what the AC said or if you really want it is shit easy to symlink it to another partition.

"2.) And if /home were its own partition, does that necessarily make it immune to hard poweroffs?"

It means the whole system does not get hosed due to "Unnanounced poweroffs", just the latest "Mahjongg" save game or whatever. I'm sure you'll agree that this will lead to a lot less in the way of critical fuckups overall.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[msormune (808119)]

A Week? Really? :) Why did you format it in the first place? Why did you setup a restore image in the first place created on the Windows clean installation?

And the last time I did Upgrade Version on Ubuntu, it took an hour just to download the new files.

I have really no problem your post and have used Ubuntu desktop with success in the past, but it just irks me how much GNU/Linux people bend the truth when pushing their agenda. Or maybe they really just don't know any better than just to "format and reinstall" on Windows.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[meringuoid (568297)]

And the last time I did Upgrade Version on Ubuntu, it took an hour just to download the new files.

Perhaps, but did you have to intervene while it did that? How long the computer takes to do its stuff is less important: the question is how long the human job takes, and that is indeed only a few minutes.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Lachlan Hunt (1021263)]

From my experience, the format and reinstall approach is the quick and easy way to deal with a machine that has become filled with lots of junky software that's no longer used, infected with mallicious software, and, in general, has things that just randomly don't work.

However, given proper maintenance, a decent anti-virus program, regular defragging, and not letting anyone use IE or Outlook at all, it's entirely possible to keep an XP machine running well for a few years.

But personally, I'd recommend getting a Mac. They're so much easier to use and maintain than Windows. I switched about a year ago and haven't looked back. Prior to that, I tried various Linux distros, including Ubuntu, but always ended up giving up and reverting to Windows.

Lack of competence

[Ralish (775196)]

Some of those acres are self imposed, let's see:

a) If you're installing SP3 every time (as you should be), why are you doing it separately? You should be slipstreaming the SP3 installation into the original installation media, so no separate installation is required, it's integrated as part of the main install. This will save a significant amount of time (by your estimation, an hour), and many would argue, is cleaner as well. It'll probably even save space, as old files from the RTM/SP1/SP2 installation won't be backed up.

b) Assuming these are just everyday desktop boxes, most of the hardware should be found on Windows Update in the hardware section, this isn't a guarantee, but I've had great success with it. It of course won't be the latest available much of the time, but it will likely have been tested by Microsoft and certified, so stability is likely very high. What isn't found, manually install.

c) When copying the saved data back, the permission specific metadata will usually (I add the qualifier for specific cases that no doubt exist) automatically change to match the logged on user doing the copying. If they don't, change them? You say you should be able to change the UID, by UID, I assume you mean either the owner or the permissions. You can change the owner and permissions of all files and folders in a directory recursively through the permissions GUI in Explorer, or do it by the command line: takeown.exe for fiddling with ownership, cacls.exe for ACL's (icacls.exe is preferred in Vista). You have _BOTH_ a GUI and CLI frontend to make the changes you desire, so what's the problem?

Finally, some of your estimations seem a little "padded", I've done a ridiculous amount of XP installations, and THREE HOURS?! What are you installing it on? You'd be hard pushed to find 2001 era hardware from the original XP release that took anywhere near that long. In my experience, 1.5hrs is usually the upper bound, with 30minutes the lower bound.

Bluntly, this comes down to competence; a competent technician knows the tricks to accomplish his objective efficiently and save time, just like a efficient Linux/Unix admin will save time with his tricks of the trade. The above three recommendations, _especially_ the first of slipstreaming the service pack is ridiculously basic. If you aren't doing this, I wonder what else you are doing wrong that isn't in your account.

I'm not even going into the whole registry, security, out of control dev's of your last paragraph. It'd take forever, and is just a random selection/rant of Windows issues that are frequently not issues and just poorly understood and managed.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[rhyder128k (1051042)]

Another vote for Ubuntu. I wrote [linux.com] about my experiences of moving my mother over to Linux at the beginning of the year. It's gone swimmingly and I'm writing the follow-up now. What possible advantage could there be in setting up a non-expert, non-gamer with Windows? For one thing, Windows XP seems to go wrong in places when you attempt to set a large font.

Linux of Mac

[robinjo (15698)]

Really, do not install Windows for your older parents. They will just get in trouble with it. Get them a Mac or some really user friendly Linux distro, like Ubuntu.

The #1 problem with Windows is not usability, but malware. As older people don't probably have any clue about security, it's best to let them use an OS, that will keep them out of trouble.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[tloh (451585)]

For those of us with parents who don't read English, Ubuntu has been a double blessing. The native language version of the Linux based OS is so much more available in the US than a legitimate (non-pirated) native language version of Windows.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Toll_Free (1295136)]

Yeah, make it real easy.

Install Linux. So every time your parents need help, they can get STFU n00b, go RTFM.

Ubuntu on my grandmothers laptop was a mission in pulling my hair out, getting a divorce, wanting to kill every small puppy I ever ran across for 6 months afterwards, etc.

OTOH, installing XP was easy, everything on the laptop works, she has OFFICE (which all her friends have, and makes it VERY easy. Instead of hearing "lucy does it this way, why doesn't my computer work that way", I now hear "This is great. I have the same thing as Lucy, and when I had a problem last night, I could call her instead of you!!!".

Oh yeah, I guess I should have told Granny to go to the local Linux Users Group, huh?

People who OS bash are like runners in the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard

--Toll_Free

Re:Install Ubuntu

[dov_0 (1438253)]

I disagree. I got my Dad on to Ubuntu a few years ago. He loves it. He's 73 now and handles all the updates and version upgrades himself, installs software packages through synaptic etc. As for windows, it confuses him. If someone has NO computer experience, don't give them windows. I run a computer repair business and the window pop-ups etc just confuse people. XP drives older people nuts. Ubuntu isn't perfect, but it's a lot easier, has a logical, easy menu structure and is hard to break.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[snowraver1 (1052510)]

Grr, I wish I could so something about my parents computers. I got called several days ago, and then again yesterday after I didn't retrun the call (I'm a bad son).

I am sick and tired of fixing fucked up windows installs. The problem is that windows is a major pain in the ass without an admin account, and running as an admin is just asking for trouble.

Looks like this christmas, I get to fix a computer! YEY! Just like last christmas...

Re:Install Ubuntu

[JamesTRexx (675890)]

The problem isn't the lack of knowledge, the problem is that you need the knowledge to do things that are not needed on Ubuntu for instance.
Set file permissions, locking down Windows and applications takes more work and knowledge than installing most popular distros.
If there's an equal choice between Windows and *nix, I always go for *nix.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Casandro (751346)]

1. Interface standards: Every programm looks different depending on the year is was made. Some things don't even make sense, unless you take the history behind it into account.

2. Of course you can modify a Windows machine to be user-friendly and managable, but that takes days of work. And even then you'll still need to manually restore it. A typical Ubuntu installation is done in less than an hour and you already have a fairly optimal system. I mean Windows doesn't even come with Firefox!

Re:Install Ubuntu

[Malevolyn (776946)]

The simple fact that Linux isn't Windows doesn't inherently make it better, either. Arguable, yes, but hopefully the point is gotten. But while my parents use Xubuntu and are fine with it, they do have their gripes. They come from long time use of Windows, so the transition was somewhat difficult. The only reason I didn't just set them back up with XP is due to fact that setting up a thumbdrive live distro of Xubuntu was easier than replacing the optical drive in their laptop (works fine, but you can't boot from it for whatever reason that doesn't matter anymore).

Honestly, I don't think OS matters for users that only need, say, email, a browser, and a word processor. You could probably get away with something like MenuetOS.

The only reason I stick with Windows is because it's more work than it's worth to get a decent music production setup in Linux. I'm stuck with Windows and OS X for that.

Re:Install Ubuntu

[suckmysav (763172)]

"I never realised how much time I spent on fixing friends windows boxen until recently."

I'm probably a bit older than you. Quite a while back I learned to "just say no". It gets easier when you can say "I don't use Windows, you will have to find a windows person to fix that."

Inevitably, they then ask "Don't use Windows? What do you use then?" and I'm sure you can fill in the rest yourself.

As you've obviously realised, life gets sooo much easier after you've done this.

Install mac os-x

[localoptimum (993261)]

My father has his own business with two employees - him and his wife. He wasted years of his life (and lots of money) messing about with XP. He came to me in despair one evening, he'd had enough. I told him to try a mac (linux was not very friendly 3 years ago). Now he runs his business himself with zero IT problems and he owns about 5 macs. He still has no idea how computers work, but it doesn't stop him getting the job done.

From my own experience...

[Anachragnome (1008495)]

Unless you can get them to understand the basics of security(which means teaching them how to use a decent virus scanner, a firewall, something like Revo Uninstaller and maybe Process Explorer) your fighting a losing battle.

The problem will not be large icons and the magnifier set up, but keeping all the crap, malware, data farming toolbar add-ons and such off the machine. If you cannot keep this stuff off, you will be doing a serious maintenance every six months or so anyways.

With my own mother, I think alot of that crap she ends up with are from simply mis-clicking links, or possibly on notification windows. Hard to configure against stuff like that. You can no-script them to death, but then they have to know enough about it to let the safe stuff through.

I have just resigned myself to cleaning up my mothers machine once a year at the holidays.

Doing Computers for Friends and Family

[lobiusmoop (305328)]

You're doomed. Just give them your telephone number and book out 3 hours per week of your time for the rest of your life.

Done this before

[dmneoblade (848781)]

Make sure you give the computer with remote administration capabilities pre-setup and tested. Be prepared to be called with questions, and remote desktop can save you a LOT of time when grandma discovers popups. Or when something inevitably goes wrong.

Easy...

[800DeadCCs (996359)]

DON'T!!!

I've done some tech support for people in my mother's building (and since then, re-affirmed my oath to NOT FUCKING do that ever again!),
You may as well surf all the virus/trojan loaded sites before you give it to them and save them the trouble.
And save yourself the trouble of having to explain why all their pictures are gone, or why they're victims of ID theft and not able to do anything about it.

Many people are going to shout "UBUNTU!!! They can just do the updates themselves."
Yeah, and then you're gonna be over there figuring out what happened when they do a version upgrade and it not just breaks, but shatters to pieces.

I got my mom a mini-mac. The only issues I've had to fix are getting an old version of photoshop running on it, and telling her that "no, you don't have to pay for Open Office, that's a donation button, like on PBS."

Disclaimers: I use ubuntu on my systems; no problems, I like it. I am not a mac fanboi. I know not every senior is technically inept; I've seen plenty who do amazing things on their systems, I've also seen some who shouldn't be allowed to own a toaster.

While we're here

[by Anonymous Coward]

My parents have never driven a car, and i plan on buying them one for christmas.

As well as never driving, they tell me they have no intention of learning but they fully intend to take it for a spin on christmas morning to go an see my brother who lives 50 miles away.

Can someone recommend me a good car to buy them? preferably one which will work for it's entire lifetime with no maintenance or refuelling, and is instantly drivable by someone who does not know how to drive?

Re:While we're here

[Bert64 (520050)]

A taxi.

Buy 'em a Mac

[igb (28052)]

My father had a succession of Windows boxes. Hopeless: he's not naive, having used systems back to Wordstar on CP/M in the late seventies, but they kept on getting screwed up. My mother got fed up with the email breaking, so I slung Linux (Redhat 7 or something) on an old laptop: she loved it, and nothing seemed to break. But she wanted Office to interwork with newsletters she was helping on. So, although at the time I had little to no Mac experience, I got her to buy an iBook G4. It just worked. Dad bought one. It just worked. I switched my house over later, building on their good experience. A lot of their friends are making the same switch. Windows just doesn't work unattended, or at least the effort required to make it run unattended is beyond most people.

I'd jump on the Mac bandwagon.

[mlts (1038732)]

This is one of the areas where steering them to purchase a Mac is a good thing. Yes, an iMac may seem pricy, but with AppleCare, the relative can get questions answered at a Genius Bar or via the Apple line and not have to keep bugging you. Linux is also good, but one advantage of Macs is that the older person can ask more than just you, as a lot more people run Macs than Linux boxes. Another factor is that the older person will be keeping the machine a lot longer than the usual 2-3 years a normal PC is used.

Another advantage is that Macs run almost all popular software. Say the relative wants to watch a Flash movie or find a podcast, Macs happily do this with few issues. For word processing, iWork is easy to install and use and does most of the basics.

Security-wise, ensuring the computer is behind a hardware firewall/router will keep the port scanners off the box, and setting OS X's firewall to "Allow only essential services" will do the rest. A basic lecture of not downloading stuff from the Web and running it should minimize the chance of Trojans, perhaps coupled with a decent A/V program. Give them an account with administrative rights so they can run Software Update and you are pretty much done.

For loss of data, backups are quite easy with OS X. Plug in an external hard disk, configure Time Machine, walk away. For further protection, there is always Mozy which can back up the entire machine with unlimited storage for around $6 a month.

This is just my personal opinion, so take for what its worth, but an iMac with an external hard disk (for Time Machine), a decent hardware firewall/router, and having all these plugged into a good UPS should get an older person up and running on the Internet and greatly decrease any chance of 2am "tech support" calls.

OS X isn't perfect, but in this case of getting a user set up and as independent as possible, it might be one of the better solutions available.

dont spoil them!

[FudRucker (866063)]

just give them a PC with no OS on it and an OpenBSD CDrom and Theo's phone number :D

For Older People

[Whiteox (919863)]

I do work occasionally for the elderly in setting up WinX computers and I regularly donate my services to various individuals.
Apart from setting up their desktops as I've detailed in a previous post http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1072163&cid=26221671 [slashdot.org]
you need to install some helper apps.
Avast Antivirus can be set to automatically delete/quarantine anything it finds with no user action. AVG 8 free doesn't scan chat/webcam so stay away from that if they want to use it.
Find a good Hosts file: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm [mvps.org] is very good.
Point their DNS to OpenDns http://www.opendns.com/ [opendns.com] and use their filtering to stop phishing and other bad stuff. It also allows you to easily make customized error pages in case they find themselves in hot water.
I would not switch off Windows Security Centre and have updates set at a reasonable time on automatic.
Windows Media Player 11 is a must and set it to do everything.
Also, set their screensaver to My Pictures Slideshow. They really appreciate that as many have pics of grandkids etc.
Some elderly need good JPG editor. The easliest to use is Microsoft's PhotoEd which came in early versions of Office, Microsoft Office Picture Manager has now replaced it. It is much better in some regards as it can open larger jpegs, but the gui is considerably different. A bit of training helps. HP scanning software is very good as it has a decent editor inbuilt. Also Picassa 3 is my choice for a freebie.

Open up their My Pictures folder and set it up in Film Strip view and to open maximized.

IE vs Firefox: I always install Firefox and set it as default. But some apps decide to run IE, even though it is not the default. IE 6 is preferable here as it is very similar to Firefox's gui. But for security's sake, IE7 should be used and some more training required in case it pops up inadvertently. If you remove the shortcuts and pin Firefox to the Start menu, then that will be fine.

One or Two clicks?
This is a hard one. Some elderly can't do a double-click fast enough or accurately enough as they move the mouse off the icon by the time the 2nd click comes along. So you have to change the mouse timing (Control Panel/Mouse Properties/Double-Click Speed), or use the single-click approach. Try and stay away from the single click, because if they double click then most probably an editor of some description open up. This is particularly bad for pictures, especially when they are in Flimstrip mode or trying to copy and paste any other file.
The other thing is to remind them to click the icon and not the words below, or otherwise they'll start editing the filename (as Rename) instead of opening something up.
Most elderly switch things completely off. That includes monitors, speakers, modems, so check the BIOS battery every year.
They also need a checklist in turning things on. This sounds dumb, but the calls I get that the internet doesn't work because they switched their modem on last gets annoying. Switch the modem on first. By the time the modem is connected, the computer has booted and they're ready to go.

Write things down clearly.

[gzipped_tar (1151931)]

No matter what you do to the computer, it's not enough. Take the time to write a short, concise manual (or "cheat sheet") and print it on dead tree paper, in large and clear fonts. Write in the manual basic things like how to update the system/antivirus, etc., etc.. You can always tell them what to do but you can't expect them to remember every detail well.

This is not meant to be an insult on senior people. You said these people are unfamiliar with computing and this is an approach for them to familiarize themselves with it. Human memory is unreliable, especially for unfamiliar things.

iMac & Grandmother experience

[drewkinney (1138579)]

When my Grandmother was 81 I bought her an iMac, so I could send her digital pictures and she could see my work. I'm a Mac user and wanted a machine I could help her with if She got confused. I ordered the iMac online and had it shipped to her. I called and said, "have the driver put it in the corner and I will set it up next week." She said ok. I got an email from her the next day. She got out the computer and set it up. Followed the simple instructions to get internet access and she was going. Let me qualify this story, my Grandmother never drove a car or had touch-tone phone service. She never used an ATM or Cable television. The main interface between her and the world was the newspaper. She lacked the mental model to understand how a computer is used and why. Apple's instructions and seductive packaging got her out of her comfort zone. She was very happy with the experience. I may be a nerd but my Grandmother was not. That's a success for an older age group.

640 X 480

[Comboman (895500)]

I've tried to explain to my mom that she's not utilizing the full power of her graphics card and that if she wants large fonts, she can adjust the font size in the display properties to be whatever she wants. I even set it up for her once. The next time I came over, it was set back to 640 X 480 because "it looks better". Apparently big blocky fonts are easier for seniors to see than big smooth fonts. Who knew?

Re:perhaps there is a reason ?

[somenickname (1270442)]

The responses of "Use Ubuntu instead" are not all based on fanboi-ism. Most are probably based on the fact that the question as asked is not a solvable problem. In that case, "You can't but, I've used another OS to accomplish this very thing for my parents and it's worked very well" seems like helpful advice to me.