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Protecting Our Parents' PCs?
Frustrated Son asks: "I assume that many Slashdot readers must serve as the IT staff for their parents. My folks get my old machines and just enough software to be productive. I try to protect my parents from the forces of evil by installing automatic OS updates, virus checkers, spyware blockers, pop-up blockers... But still I find that my parents end up with unwanted applications and dangerous software. What software or strategies do you use to protect your parents' PCs? Is it possible for inexperienced users to surf the net in safety?"
No thanks necessary, it's what I do. :)
(and yes, I know he said PC. I consider this a PC solution.)
What software or strategies do you use to protect your parents' PCs? Is it possible for inexperienced users to surf the net in safety?"
Well, the solution is pretty simple actually. Since OS X does not have the virus/worm issues that Windows has, is easy to use and set-up, does not have the malware issues that Windows has, I purchased iBooks for my mother and my sister to use. They are cheap, quite effective, durable as can be and since they live many hundreds of miles away from me, I am not always having to do tech support over the phone (or video iChat). Quite frankly, I really don't have the time these days to do computer support so this really is the best solution. Additionally, I would much rather spend the time I have to interact with my family on more fulfilling topics than computer support.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
I just create a ghost of the system with everything installed and every so often just wipe the computer and reinstall things. Takes a little doing to get the parents trained well enough to save files correctly, but it works well, and every 6 months i sit down for a couple hours and reinstall everything. Maybe over doing it but I dont have to do anything in between except change ink cartridges
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
I use VNC to do check ups on my fathers computer a few times a day. This is real usedull because you can check the computer as if you were sitting in front of it in a very short ammount of time; You dont have to stand up and phisicaly be at the computer.
I also installed Mozilla Firebi...fox on his computer so that he does not install anything he really neads.
I spend hours locking down the box, turning off their permissions, setting up virus and spyware scanners with automatic updates and run-times and admonished them to run Firefox. Took a long time.
They still got infected. I still got calls. LOTS of calls. "Slow!" "Hijacked homepage!" "radioactive monkeys!" etc.
Then I got them a used G4. Works a charm. They're happy, I'm happy, the web is safer for them and from them.
Does narcissism count as a hobby? --Shawn Latimer
I installed Mozilla Firebird on my parents computer which is also used by my sister.. Installed all the plugin's they could ever use, and so far, the only way unwanted programs pop up on their machine, is when my sister jumps on to internet explorer cause she gets some errors on sites that say "Internet explorer only!!!" Which is bull, cause I know Mozilla will support what they want, but due to crappy scripting on their javascript, it searches for browser names, not capability... So in conclusion, I would suggest using....
Mozilla Firebird for Browsing
Delete ALL Traces of Internet Explorer Icons
Use Lavasoft Ad-Aware Personal Edition
Use ZoneAlarm Personal Edition
Invest a small bit of money into Norton Antivirus
And above all.. Lock all active x stuff from emails if you still have them using Outlook from M$...
Just me
This includes updating virus protection(AYG, so they don't have to worry about keeping it paid), running windows update, a full defrag, and I make sure their OO.org and mozilla are up to date.
Hakkuna friggin' Matata. :)
You are not the customer.
My mother has actually started taking a few basic computer classes, which have yielded an improvement in her basic usage skills.
Install Mozilla or Firefox ...
Stick with Safari, it comes with Mac OS X, it gets updated automatically like the OS, and frankly will get better support when a company blows it and produces a page that doesn't render correctly. Apple is actually somewhat helpful on that last point when the offending site is somewhat important, say online banking, they may contact the offender. I believe Safari has a built in reporting mechanism for bad pages.
Nope, no blocking. They make other programs for that purpose.
You're buddies drive would have died anyway. There isn't a single thing that scandisk does that will prevent a drive from dying. It might save a filesystem from corruption, but it's not going to prevent/fix physical problems. All filesystem problems can be fixed with the handy administration tool "fdisk", which should be used on all Windows PC's bi-annually. Think of it as an enema for Windows.
Setting them up with Firefox (or probably any other non-IE browser) is one of the best things you can do to protect them. Additionally, Thunderbird (or another non-Outlook mail client) would probably be a good idea.
Set them up with Spybot S&D to clean up stuff that does get through. If for some reason you haven't yet explained to them about not opening attachments, make sure you do.
I was reluctant to switch my mom away from IE because I was concerned about her having problems with non-IE websites. I installed Firebird on her computer (for my own use) this past X-mas when I was visiting. She asked me what the icon was and I told her it was a browser with pop-up blocking and immediately she was ready to switch. I explained about the possibility of incompatible websites and she didn't hesitate to say "I don't care about that. I'll use that IE for sites like that if I have to."
She's been really happy with Firebird. I feel kind of stupid for worrying that adding a new browser would unnecessarily complicate her life--it did exactly the opposite.
At the risk of people calling me an anti-MS zealot, let me just recommend having them use as little of Microsoft's software as possible. It's just bad news--too many exploits. You can go ahead make the argument that possibly Firefox has holes too that no one has bothered to exploit because of it's smaller marketshare. If that's true, then its smaller marketshare is just one more benefit.
And if they're on broadband, get them a netgear/linksys/d-link NAT'ing router to add an additional layer. Tell them that if Zone Alarm pops up and asks them a question, and they're in doubt, click "NO."
Teach the user to use Mozilla for browsing, e-mail and newsgroups.
It's relatively simple to keep your parents surfing in safety. As many people have already mentioned, Firefox is a good start. But that's not where you need to stop. While Thunderbird is stil in alpha, it makes a nice email client, and has fewer glaring security holes than some of the more popular clients.
But where everything comes together is with the last two important pieces of software. I used to be a strong supporter of The Proxomitron, but it's very difficult to find now, and is no longer supported, so I've switched over to Privoxy which runs on most platforms, incidentally.
Privoxy is a local proxy that does filtering on all web content that you view, removing things like some ads, and all unrequested pop-ups. It filters virtually all malicious content I have seen.
A personal firewall is important to have now, and there are some reasonable free ones around. The ones I like take a bit of configuration, but they sure beat Zone Alarm. The two I use are Kerio Personal Firewall and Sygate Personal Firewall.
Sadly, both these products used to be completely free, but the same is no longer completely true.
Essentially, it is important to use a good browser, mail client, local proxy and firewall. With those in place a virus scanner is often somewhat redundant, though one of those might be a good idea too.
On the spam prevention front, I find Popfile to be an invaluable tool. It is, however, a wee bit advanced. I suspect that most parents wouldn't quite grok it. I've heard good things about SpamAssassin, though, and it might be worth the effort of teaching parents.
I've actually seen this, where in really tiny letters it says something crazy like, "Clicking "no" indicates you do not mind this software being installed on your system."
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
I installed Debian on my parents dell over thanksgiving break. now if it has problems (which it usually doesnt) i can ssh in and take a look around. if its really broke i can even forward X through ssh and see exactly what dad is having problems with. i know this stuff is available in windows, but the thing with windows is they can still install stuff even without permissions to install to the correct place (you still have a profile and whatnot to install to). My parents run debian on 2.6.3 with the gnome2.4 and they love it. they dont even complain that it looks different. with crossover office (really worth the money) they can open all of their word documents and whatnot. with k3b they can burn cd's really easy, with the combination of autofs and hotplug they can use their digital camera and not have to type or click anything (except the camera icon that pops up on the desktop). their my documents folder is samba mounted from the fileserver in the basement. whenever i ask them how the machine is running dad always replies "its actually fast!" and mom likes the new games that came with gnome. i have it made easy though because my parents dont really use the computer for a whole lot. i just basically just asked them what they used the computer for and then set it up according to those specifications. with linux i can set up the machine to do exactly what they need it for and nothing else. they dont have permission to break anything really. the worst they can do is nuke their home directory, which is easily fixable anyway since all important files are on the server (including the best of their digital camera pics that they have the option to put on the web server via samba mount).
the big trick is patience. the initial install was a little rough, like printing (non postscript printers are funky with cups), cdburning (i had never heard of k3b before i set it up for the parents), the digital camera (origionally setup in fstab and they had to right click on the desktop in gnome and mount and unmount the camera where its now truely plug and play), and explaining a little of the differences (that they cant install programs by themselves). you are bound to miss something (like i missed flash and mplayer for a couple months), but you have to make it clear that if they need something to tell you.
linux on the desktop is possible, but its problem is that you cant just give it to someone and expect to pick it right up and go. it took me awhile to tweak the system since i made it a rule to only mess with it while i have local access (that applies to software installation and upgrading) which happens every couple of months or so.
i feel like such a zealot or something but as you said i got sick of having to mess with virus scanners and spyware and email worms and stuff (my parents are the type to open attachments). desktop linux is coming. but right now its still up to us to help people get it up and running. you still cant just give a cd to anyone and expect them to figure it out. so yea it takes a little work...
I've had my parents, both in their 70's, running Mandrake Linux for the last 3 years. They email friends and family, play some games, and budget their retirement using kspread. Never anything I can't fix in less than ten minutes, and a reboot every three months or so keeps them problem free.
The problem with Windows XP System Restore is that you are at the mercy of what files Microsoft think are important. Suppose you manage to download a trojan which destroys all your game directories. Those directories aren't under System Restore's control so it can't roll back those changes.
Solutions like TrialBlazer managed the entire disk as if everything were the same thing. Although you could easily make a D: which wasn't under its control, I guess. I can barely remember whether it did every hard disk or just the system one.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Getting a Mac, moving to Linux and switching to Firefox etc... are all excellent suggestions, but I've found that they aren't always practical. Many people learn by rote, and switching between all-MS products at work and other applications at home may generate even more confusion (and thus work for you) than the security problems they solve. And although Firefox is getting really good (it's my full-time browser), I do encounter bugs and incompatible pages more frequently than I did when I used IE, and have not had good luck with semi-skilled users I've switched to it.
This is all a long winded way of saying that *if* for some reason you're in a situation were you need to leave the machine in basically "pure Windows / MS" form, here are some ideas:
If you're cheap: Keep virus protection current (look to AVG or Panda if you need something free). The google toolbar for IE is a decent popup blocker and will take care of most of the spyware popups as well as make searching easier. Install both Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy... manually update and run them when you visit, and use the Spybot "innoculate" feature. If they've got XP, demote their user accounts so that they aren't administrators, and either install all software for them or teach them to change accounts to do it themselves. VNC is nice, but the built-in remote assistance also works, and the full-blown remote access built into XP Pro works well over low-bandwidth connections when configured properly.
If you / they are willing to spend a few bucks and don't have a complete allergy to commercial software: Norton Internet Security isn't a bad package (if you turn off the parental controls crap) and will do most of what you need. The Antivirus and firewall are reasonably solid and very easy to use, as is Norton Antispam, which takes care of popups and browser-based spyware installation as well as mail filtering that's well-integrated and easy to use with Outlook and OE.
-R
Unbelievable. I was sure this was a troll, but discovered that Wired Magazine ran a story in December 2001 called The Geek Syndrome addressing this phenomenon. Amazing.
:)
Lucky for me, my wife has a degree in Communications, and is about as non-technical as they come.
This is my sig.
Dood, I know this is /. and that we be abunchazealots, but still...
You can run Windows in a secure fashion. First thing: Disblable useless services (like Universal PnP, Remote *anything* and so on). Second: Setup separate user and admin accounts.
If you as a third move install third-party software for netuse (Opera, Mozilla. That kind of stuff), you'll need some pretty clueless people in order to screw the machine over.
The fourth and probably best move you can ever do, is setup a systempartition with only the system and applications (move documentfolders elsewhere), and take a Ghost-snapshot. Then if they somehow manage to screw up, you're recovered in 5 minutes with absolutely no hassle.
That's four simple goddamn things you need to do, and your Windows is bulletproof enough for any standard needs.
What's the problem? No really, what is the problem?
Yes, Linux may be better (for some things), but sometimes stuff like work ++ creates things called software issues, and VMware really is more of a hack than a solution unless you have the extra memory.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.