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Dealing With The Always-Breaking Family PC?
Corby Ziesman asks: "I am sure many on Slashdot are entrusted to maintain computers for their family members. I've built a few computers for my sister over the years; however she constantly complains to me that 'something's wrong' with the computer, and claims that it 'just stopped working' all by itself. She blames the computer I built, calling it 'a piece of crap', yet it works flawlessly once I start using her old computer after she has upgraded. I've considered revoking her access to Windows, and giving her Ubuntu Linux or something, however she has a lot of games and art applications like Corel Painter that require Windows. How do I get her up and running, so that I don't have to keep fixing the computer every month? I'm tired of digging in the registry, checking the processes for spyware, and all that. I have also tried to educate her about how to use a computer intelligently, but she seems to lack common sense when it comes to what software is suspicious and bloated, and what is trustworthy. So I ask the Slashdot community: how do you cope with your family members who have a talent for torturing computers?"
Install Windows on it for the games and the few applications that are Windows only that have no Mac equivalents. Tell her to use Windows for the games only, otherwise due to her unwillingness to actually learn how to use a computer it will just fuck up again. Then hit her to ensure the point sinks in. You might also want to 'zidanity' her too, just for fun.
Tell her to use the Mac side of things for all the internet stuff - install all her favourite applications there, or equivalents thereof, and don't install them on the Windows side.
Also on the Windows side, don't give her admin rights, so she can't install it if she tried.
Then slap her about a bit to get the point home.
Family PCs aren't worth the hassle, get them something that is far harder to go wrong if used by retarded assmonkeys. And in this case, a good candidate is Mac OS X. Also you'll feel at home if you have to use it too, which is a bonus, because it also gives you all the nice geek toys too.
Then kick her in the ovaries.
I say do what the professionals do. Use XP Professional, and set family up with User level access, and tight security settings, that will stop her from doing stupid stuff. Giving them Linux or a Mac usually works best but if you family is going to need windows only apps and give a fuss if they don't have it. Then spend the extra cash and get XP Professional.
When setting up permissions make sure they cannot install software without access. And don't give them Administrator access and not the admin password. But make sure these is enough for their apps to work.
The next step is removing as many traces of Internet Explorer as possible and get them to use Firefox or Opera as the default browser. Also make sure they have a Virus Protection software and anti-Spyware tools. If they are not freeware make sure they are registed and will keep themselves updated automatically.
Finally explain to you family about the last system they said was broken and state you noticed no problems with it. Let them know their actions can damage the Software, and there is nothing that you can do, or Dell or Compact, to stop that. You need to tell them that it is not worth it to overly cutify your PC, while some are reputable most will damage the software, and for most cases there is no good way to know if it bad or good from observations, or guessing by the quality of the website, or the terms in the legalese.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Yeah right. Not that Corel does vector graphics and gimp is retarded (and does bitmap graphics). ;) Not that she probably uses Corel since she gets these files from work or some other third party. And so on...
I happen to work in a company that uses Corel for its main business (drawing maps of trade fairs - Corel is a wordlwide standard) and I assure you - there is no piece of software for Linux that does what Corel does in sane (from wide point of view, features/price/user-friendlyness etc.) way. Just live with it.
I use Linux mostly for all my computing needs - but please stay connected with reality.
Oh and WINE will not do any good since it really cannot run Corel in usefull way.
The basic thing I do is lay some ground rules for whether I will fix a computer.
For instance: If there is enough space to backup an image of the OS, I create that backup, and lay Ground Rules of:
Yes, that's a pain, so do it once every couple of months. But have a schedule, and stick to it.
Now, if these instructions didn't work, or if you didn't follow them, here's the rules for when I swing by to help out:
These are not intended to be as oppressive as they are. I'm actually fairly nice, cheerful, helpful, knowledgeable, and understanding.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Have learned a coupla things:
-the wife is generally not so willing to make changes
-the kids will bitch but will also deal with change far more easily
-nobody really needs all the crap they think they need.
After doing the whole win32, image, anti-virii, anti spyware dance one too many times, I finally just setup two computers.
The kids have been running Linux for about the last 4 years. Was rough at first because I had to do some extra admin to make devices and applications work. Recently my workload has dropped to almost nothing. (That's my benchmark for how well desktop Linux is doing, BTW --and it's coming along nicely.)
The kids PC is now running Ubuntu Dapper Drake. It's just sweet in that it mostly just works. They've been burning CD's, dealing with cameras, surfing, word processing, etc... with no issues to speak of. I set up user accounts for them, they ended up sharing one go figure. If they want an application, I find them one and they deal with it. All in all, a very nice solution. Interestingly, their friends come over to use the machine a lot. They like it because it's not a hassle. None of them have had any significant problems using the machine.
When they ask for something windows only, we talk about why they think they need it and what the alternatives are. Not a bad conversation to be having with one's kids, IMHO. Mine know the tradeoff between all the bad programs and learning how to do some things differently. Positioned right, they can use the computer uninhibited, or use it with extreme care. They choose uninhibited and safe every time!
For my wife, she does online poker. That means win32 for the best overall experience these days. So, we've got a machine running a default copy of XP Home, that I got at a steep discount. ($200!) We load only a few open tools and her poker clients. The rest of the machine stays factory with updates off. This machine is used for paying bills online, banking, etc... so general web surfing is out. There is a VM installed for that. Once the sites are known, it's easy to differentiate which ones can be surfed from the native OS and which should be surfed through the VM.
I don't run anti anything either. I've got the home network sitting behind a simple NAT, running Linux. (Quest routers are great!) The only inbound connections allowed are for gaming and are mapped to the console IP, or the Linux box as necessary.
The Linux machine receives it's normal updates and has performed just great. No issues at all. We did get the win32 machine hosed a while back. (Switched client based e-mail to gmail and that is not likely to happen again.) Restore from the discs provided, overlay drivers and install apps and it's all good again. Takes about an hour and I printed up a quick and dirty cheat sheet and burned a CD with the installers necesary for the box.
The spyware people target kids. If you are running a win32 box, with kids on it. It's gonna have everything under the sun running on it no matter what you do. Actually that's not totally true, but your admin burden goes way up if you lock the box down too tight. --nothing works unless you deal with it. Ubuntu has been great about this. I admin the box only when major changes are necessary (new printer, network, device....); otherwise it just does it's thing in user space.
Putting the kids on Linux brought the problems to a screeching halt. I suspect a Mac would have the same effect. (I just went the cheap route.)
As for sharing computers. I've no problems sharing a win32 box with my wife. We both know what the machine is used for and do exactly that. Anything goofy happens in a VM or on the Linux machine. (I did setup quick icons for doing both of these things. The family thought it was interesting that more than one person can be using the Linux box at the same time! VNC or X window, whatever you prefer --I do the X thing personally.)
Sharing a win32 machine with kids is a mess! The Linux
Blogging because I can...
I used to have to deal with this with my Aunt and Uncle. They were nice about it, never rushed me, and always offered to pay, but eventually it was still a pain to have to drive over there every week or two to remove viruses, etc.
Eventually, I sat down and talked to them about installing Linux. I didn't go into technical details, but I explained that they could do everything they did under Windows, but it would take them some time to get used to different programs. I also explained that my cousins games wouldn't work. They decided to let me give it ago, and Installed Suse 9.1 (the newest version at the time).
I set up wine and got most my cousins games working, set up seperate accounts for each family member, set up their email, etc. Since then there hasn't been a single problem with that computer. A couple of months ago, they were given another computer that is running Windows XP. After a couple of months of the same cleaning up crapware off the machine every couple of weeks, they even asked me to install Linux on it as well. Unfortunately, some software that my Uncle runs on it won't run under Wine, and I haven't been able to find any alternative to it under Linux (it's some custom software written by a friend of his that ties in various topography maps with a database keeping track of caves and other geological stuff in the area). It's funny though, with the exception of my Uncle who needs to use this software, everyone else in the family prefers the Linux box, and only uses the Windows machine for iTunes or if someone else is on the Linux box.
If you approach them diplomatically and explain that installing Linux will require that they learn things a little different, but that in the long run it will make it easier on everyone, you might be surprised how receptive non-technical people can be toward the idea. My own experience (not just with my aunt and uncle, with others as well) has show me that, while most people may not be proficient enough to install and configure Linux, if you set it up for them and then walk them through common tasks, people can run just fine with Linux.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
Nice to see you put computers and operating systems before your own family.
As for your actual comment, this is exactly what I did: someone in family bought a Mac and ever since the only questions are about how to use the computer/which software to use. I haven't had to "repair/fix" his computer since he bought it almost a year ago (Mac mini G4/1.25GHz, 512MB).
To be honest, with OS X and all the software it comes with (iLife, etc), the Mac really is the computer for the average user.
Once again I'll suggest the easiest solution I have come across. And it really does work. Visit http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm and download the hosts file. Set it up (takes about 2 minutes) and then make it read only. Once a month or so - whenever you visit, update the hosts file. The file on this site is updated regularly. The last update is from yesterday. This file is released under the Creative Commons license and prevents 'bad' pages or sites from loading. Obviously, spyware from unknown sites is not stopped by this but it prevents such a high percentage of unwanted crap that it has resulted in NO calls from friends or family members to fix spyware related problems on their pc's.
Assuming every other comment here is jumping to the wrong conclusion... Perhaps your sister is incompotent, ignorant, and frustrated, rather than actually evil and malicious?
For the most illiterate of computer users, I've found that making shortcuts to the important maintenance apps (antispyware, antivirus, defrag, Windows update, etc.) in a single "Monthly Maintenance" folder on the desktop, and replacing the IE icon with a link to Firefox (perhaps named "Internet Explorer", with the IE icon, in the worst cases) solves all the ignorance and incompotence problems. Now, if person X won't do that simple and basic task every month, THEN you can really assume the worst, and dump them on their ass (for their own good, as much as yours) as every other comment here has suggested.
That one I can't account for. You really need to find out what the problem is. Arogance and condecention can cause intelligent people to ignore REAL problems, just because the user's poor description of the problem happens to sound dubious.
The ONE THING this sounds similar to, is people not knowing the difference between a Network/Website problem, and a computer problem. I find it's absolutely necessary to explain that things that happen while using the internet are NOT computer problems, and may solve themselves in a few days. That takes care of the ads that look like pop-up system error messages...
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I talked my mother into switching from XP to an iMac just over a year ago.
Only problem she's had since was a full mailbox at her ISP.
I'm sick of supporting Microsoft's problems - whenever people ask me for advice these days my answer is simply 'buy a Mac'. When they go and buy a PC instead because they think it's cheaper in the short term, afterwards when they come to me complaining about problems x/y/z I feel quite justified when I say - 'If you don't want to take my advice that's fine, but why is this now my problem?'