Safe Computing For the Elderly?

wingspan asks: "My 80-year old mother is insisting on using this new fangled thing called the Internet for banking and brokerage. I researched ways for her to perform those activities safely. The typical suggestions, from organizations such as BITS [pdf], include installing anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-adware, browser toolbar, and a personal firewall. The suggestions also include not clicking on links, verifying security certificates (If it has a cert, it must be a good site!), making sure the address begins with 'https://' regularly updating the security software and patching all other software, and regularly changing passwords. Personally, I think the technical suggestions are too Windows-centric, too costly, and leave too much of an attack surface. The non-technical suggestions are simply too much to ask of the elderly. What do you think? Is it possible for an elderly person to safely perform Internet banking and brokerage? If so, what system should they have, how should it be configured and maintained, and how much of the security should depend with the elderly user?"

Comments

Sad

[Trailwalker]

A rather elitist and patronizing view of the elderly.

Author needs to be whacked with a cane.

Re:Safe is safe enough.

[antifoidulus]

I would add to this: only use bookmarks to navigate the web instead of typing in addresses. Especially if the person has never used a keyboard before(or hasn't in a long while) and may have a bit of trouble reading the address bar accurately. One mistaken keystroke could send you right to a phisher/camper's site. Plus, if you only navigate to known trustworthy sites, your chances of getting spyware/virus etc. are greatly reduced.

Never used a computer?

[oDDmON oUT]

First of all, go with something *you* are comfortable with, because you're going to be the first person she calls in the event of an emergency.

Otherwise, considering going Apple. Sure some will decry the proprietary aspects, but it's an *easy* system to use, and with Applecare she will have a years worth of tech support from someone who is inside the US of A if you're not availabe.

My 76 yo Mom has a Powerbook for her internet related stuff, and a Winbook, because she was a long time Windows user and her embroidery stuff runs only on Windows (it's tied to a Bernina, who offers no Mac port of their software).

I think if she hadn't been into the sewing thing we could have gone straight Mac. She understands too, that if she needs to go on the internet for any reason with the WB, she uses "that other account you set up for me" (i.e. non-Admin), cause it's safer.

FWIW, the PB has been just fine for 3 years, the WB has had problems within 3 months of purchase, YMMV.

Good luck, whatever you do.

Re:Never used a computer?

[Thornae]

Seconded, with a proviso: Make sure the people she's getting tech support from are patient and nice.

My mum's got a Mini, and is totally happy with it (and has now converted my Dad, a longtime Wintel user).
When she first got it, though, she spent a lot of time on the phone to the Mac shop (and me). The Mac people were totally understanding and patient with her, never told her to just ring Apple, and now she's doing great.

However, there are two main Mac outfits in our little town, and the other one* is staffed almost entirely by the sort of elitist snobs who give Mac users a bad name (you know, the ones who sneer at you for asking questions). Seriously, I've never heard a single good story about their service or support, and if she'd gone there, chances are she would've given up on computers completely.

So, basically, check out where they'll be getting tech support from. Small outfits are more likely to be friendly, and not fob you off to generic Apple support (which is still pretty good) - and you'll be supporting local business.

*Adelaide people, I'm talking about NextByte. Avoid.

Windows hates the elderly

[CharAznable]

I'm amazed at how user-hostile Windows is when confronted with someone who has never seen a computer. My girlfriend's elderly grandmother just got a computer for the first time. It's an interesting situation cause she has never used one before in any way or form. I was on the phone with her trying to help her out and when I'd say "click OK", I had to explain that she had to move the cursor over the box that said OK and press the button on the mouse. Now imagine that kind of user confronted with a popup saying "Google Desktop is attempting to connect to the Internet. Allow? Keep Blocking?" It totally freaked her out, and explaining firewalls and how the Internet works was futile. It's like a completely different planet for her. I don't know if Linux or Mac OS X would be any better, but I wonder. What's a good system for someone who hasn't touched a computer before? What would this system need to be like?

Not really about the elderly

[pr0nbot]

I don't think this is specifically about the elderly. It is about anyone who isn't internet-savvy. The elderly, because of their lack of exposure to computers, may form a substantial group of such users, but the same would be true of new users in the developing world etc.

iMac or Mac Mini

[pubjames]

Get them an iMac or a Mac Mini with a 24 or 30 inch screen from Dell.

Set the system up to auto-update.

If they have vision problems there are settings on the Mac to help.

You might consider getting an additional keypad - for instance you can get one from x-keys and set it up with all the things they normally want to do - opening and closing the web brower for instance, you could even set it up for different keys to open different sites. Then clearly label the keys.

Re:Yeah. "Windows" is the problem.

[Gribflex]

"No, really it's ok. It's nearly impossible for you to screw it up so bad I can't fix it easily."

That is probably the best advice that you can offer someone. Most people are so worried about breaking it that they won't do anything to it. Explaining that it's always fixable goes a long way to improving anyone's ability.

There's an easy fix for that....

[porcupine8]

You can download it at getfirefox.com.

But in all seriousness, not liking Safari is no reason not to get a Mac. Since I don't have 10.4 at home so I can't use the newest Safari anyhow (and old Safari really sucks) I use Firefox almost exclusively on my emac.