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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?"
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 :)
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.
This message was scanned by European governments and contains no terrorism.
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.
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.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
the 1st and the most request i get from senior is: "i can't see can i get bigger words and icon?"
Something like the eeepc linux distro would be a good idea (with all that big big icon)
I installed Windows for my father. He comitted suicide about a year ago. My mom is using Ubuntu and she's still fine.
you got to love the fan boi approach ignore the question then spout your fan boi ism i am interested in the answer as well but to help out the reason windows is used is all my mothers friends use windows and i am relaying on them to encourage her to learn and perhaps teach along the way.
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.
Warning, knife is sharp. Please keep out of children.
...for a senior, you'd want to look at the various Accessibility Options.
Also install SteadyState as soon as you're sure about the machine's final setup. :D
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.
Their products have obscure behaviour and are only suitable for experts. Even for them, system administration and maintenance is a chore. Either get a Mac, with has low administration need on the first hand, or install Linux, which is ideally suited to remote administration. Best distro for this is possibly Ubuntu.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
1) Don't make the assumption that older folks can't grasp computing concepts. You'll know their abilities better than the /. horde, but even so...
The other stuff puts the machine in a kiosk mode. It reduces the functionality of the machine, but can make remote troubleshooting easier.
2) Get their comfort level up so that they don't worry about "breaking" the machine.
3) Have some method of restoring a known state to the machine. There are even ways to do this automatically on boot. I actually did this by running Windows in a VM on a Linux host. There's plenty documentation online on the procedure.
4) Set up a non-admin account that auto-logins. Lock the desktop. Set applications to save to home directory rather than desktop.
5) Set up some remote admin capability.
KLL
Why not install Steady state and point my documents or maybe the entire user folder to a usb flash drive. Then the machine will be clean every time they reboot it.
Just install a really cool screen saver and a comfortable chair.
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?
a.)
- educate them so they can install things on their own
- educate them "where" to save their files
- educate them to buy an external HDD (ntfs has a nice mount to directory feature(DESKTOP/MYFILES)
- educate them that for an application based question, they need to find a solution on their own.
(this worked great for my mom, and her knowledge has grown since I started this)
b.)
- close the access to the PC that they are working as a normal user, no install etc..
- install firewall antivirus
c.)
- install windows, make a binary image of the partitioning and the installation
( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Boot_Record )
dd if=/dev/hdaX of=/themasterbackup/backup.img
- install an antivirus & firewall
- say them where to save their files
- give them full access to anything
Anytime they got major problems backup their files remotely
(LiveBootCD+Linux/FreeBSD+SSH+preconfigured)
and fire up the old configuration(from an only in the case of a restoration to use external hdd)
But all in all the most important things is, educate them not write down their email adress anywhere in the internet
The most obvious things not mentioned anywhere, autoupdates+NO.I.E.+NO.O.L., FIREWALL
And the the very best is learning to say "NO" and "NO, I have no time to do this".
The OS Question: WindowsXP
Older people generally have either no sensitivity to malware, or are extremely oversensitive on the subject. If you can make clean re-installs easy for them you'll be doing them a great service.
I know this is not the answer you are looking for but I have to say...... install linux (and gnome). It's accessibility software is far better than windows. I once introduced an undergrad with _ very_ limited vision to linux, I turned on inverted desktop colors. His reaction was amazing, he could see screen for the first time ever. I then showed him the gnome-magnifier and kmouth. It was as if the world had changed for him. The next day he came to the office with a fully installed copy of Ubuntu (installed without any help). Personally, I don't like reading long documents and text I have written, I find kmouth an invaluable aid and would find it very hard to go back to windows or any other computer without such a tool. I know windows has some of these tools, but for linux they are so configurable (using the gui), you can arrive at a desktop which is relay suited to you and your disability.
Give them a virtual machine so you can update it over the web. There are a bunch of solutions for this out there. If you use the free stuff available at you can even install it on a USB key and send it to them. Then when you want to push an update, you can do it from your house.
http://downloads.moka5.com.s3.amazonaws.com/1.6.1/18722/MokaFive-Creator-Win.exe
You basically just create a new 'LivePC' and package and upload it to the lab. You have to register on their site to upload it.
Once you upload it, you can subscribe to it from Players.
http://www.mokafive.com/solutions/player.php
You can download the USB install and then put it on there and mail it to them. Then you update it in the Creator and your old folks will get it.
Someone made an environment for kids.... perhaps there could be a cool one for older adults.
http://mokafive.typepad.com/mokafive_blog/2007/10/ladybug-for-kid.html
That is it. It may well be unfamiliar, but they're not idiots. If you're patient with them, configure the accessibility options as needed, it will take care of itself. Before his death, my 80 yo grandfather installed ram by himself. My 83 yo grandmother does her geneology, and mining claim research and digital photograph, as well as buring CDs of what she wants to save, and keeping in touch. I am convinced that the computer(s) have enriched and added years to their lives. I very rarely get tech support calls anymore fwiw.
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.
My biggest issue with a 92-year-old using Vista was how to turn off the computer. He had problems clicking on the shutdown command. I put a batch file on the desktop and got past that hurdle. Other than that, he picked up what I taught him through constant repetition. Getting a senior up to speed takes time BUT IT IS WORTH IT. Once you give a senior the chance to see the world, you've given them a new lease on life.
* Remote Admin * Skype The most important thing you can put on that computer is the ability to control it remotely to fix what they break. Even better, use one where you can both interact at the same time so you can show them what to do without having to go there. The build in Remote Desktop Connection is not good because you both can't work together. Try using RAdmin. It works great. Also add Skype! So you can talk with them hands free while you are helping them.
I use Logmein.com pcanywhere or even Windows built in remote control software to support tons of computers. My 89 year old dad is really sharp, but often he just forgets what to click and has to be shown. Even though he is only a few miles away, it is nice to just be able to get on his computer with him and say "see,this thingy right here"
My father is 81 and uses a Windows XP machine daily. His primary use is email, the web and some basic office stuff (writing and the occasional spreadsheet using Microsoft Works). He sometimes downloads photos from his digital camera and prints them out. My parents bought a Kodak mini photo printer just for that.
He runs as a limited user, has Firefox for the web and Thunderbird for email. I've set up a static IP and installed VNC, configuring the router to only accept incoming traffic from my external IP. We use Microsoft OneCare for AV protection and I can monitor that from my wife's Vista PC (same OneCare "circle").
I rarely have to get involved in administering his computer. Windows Update does the majority of stuff, and I have a quick look at his machine every couple of months, although I do have the VNC access for other times.
It can be done! The biggest issue for me is that his eyesight isn't brilliant and he likes to run at 800x600 on a 17" (CRT) monitor. I'd like to get him a bigger monitor so he doesn't have to scroll, but a lot of LCD monitors look bad in non-native resolutions. Any ideas?
My grandpa used PC's since the early 80s. He taught us all how to work with a computer. As he got older and his eyesight deteriorated, he had a major problem keeping xp malware off his computer. It wasn't that he didn't know what to do, but he wasn't sure what he was clicking. But even with the VASTLY improved vista support for font sizing, it was not much help. He had already rejected OSX as being too much change.. but he had the same response to Vista.
This is a problem that windows will most likely never solve.. how to keep the initial adopters who are not experts understanding what is going on.. And continue expansion.
I used a combination of the task scheduler and options within the programs to automatically update Spybot and AVG and to automatically run a scan. I set Spybot to scan on boot (this is the only annoyance I haven't figured out how to hide). They eat at noon like clockwork, so I set AVG to automatically scan then.
They use Thunderbird for email. Initially I setup Outlook Express thinking the "normal" Windows way would be easier in the end, even though I used Thunderbird myself. Nope, to many headaches. Firefox and Thunderbird appear to work great for them. I have a 19" monitor running at 1024x768 which seems to be ok, but I'm on the lookout for needing to lower the resolution or increase the text size, so far so good.
Something I have found, they love Frozen Bubble.
The only thing I have to do is from time to time do a "big" upgrade when AVG releases an update that can't be done automatically, about once a year, or clean up after a younger cousin, not after my grandparents. I used to have it locked down automatically logging in with a user rights account to keep my little cousins from screwing it up, but Lexmark made that difficult and Granny couldn't remember a password. Lexmark drivers required admin rights just to use the printer. I figured out which folders to blow wide open, but Lexmark kept finding another way to make it difficult, and of course their answer for bad driver writing was to contact Microsoft. I finally found it was easier leave the thing auto logging in as Admin (I hate that) and educating/threatening my other relatives. After 10 years of educating them they've finally stopped installing spyware on my grandparents system, and seriously slowed down installing it on their own systems.
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From a security standpoint I would repeat the advices that I given on the Network Security Blog:
- The **most** effective thing is using a "non-standard" environment. You can take a look at my post titled "Windows XP High Security Configuration". Applying the listed security measures will prevent 99.99% of the malware from running!
- don't let them run as admin!
- if possible, use Vista (again, because XP is much more widely spread, most malware currently targets XP)
- don't use mainstream programs! Use FoxitPDF reader, not Adobe Reader. Use Firefox (or Opera) instead of IE.
- Use software restriction policies to set where programs can be run from.
- Keep the PC up to date! Run Windows Update regularly and use something like the Secunia PSI to check for vulnerable software!
- Use a hosts file to block sites in combination with OpenDNS.
- Configure the firewall to block all incoming connections if possible
- Disable Autorun (http://hype-free.blogspot.com/2008/09/autorun-malware.html)
- And, lastly, just for defense in depth, use an AV. Here are my configuration guides for Avast (http://hype-free.blogspot.com/2008/10/installing-avast.html) and AVG8 (http://hype-free.blogspot.com/2008/10/installing-avg-8.html). Probably I should also do one for Avira, but last time I've tested them, they were very ad-loaded (admittedly this was several years ago).
If you use these methods, the chance of the computers getting malware is almost nil.
I set up a PC with XP, using FOSS to replace expensive or insecure software wherever possible. A local technician did the final snagging, mostly setting up proper seperate accounts and tweaking the setup for poor eyesight. I then took a partimage snapshot of the system, so I could get it back to its current state if a virus or trojan got in.
But then along comes a do-gooding relative and installs a cracked version of Office, which wont be receiving security updates or any upgrades in the future. This will make my job alot harder is a few years time when parents start asking why they cant open the latest docx files.
The best thing I can do now, is bite my tongue and make sure I get a new image of the system, so I can at least get it back to its current state if it needs a reinstall.
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.
will be tough but I speak from experience with a couple of nonagenerians (grandmother and great aunt) and a couple of septagenerians (aunts both) -- they will do things in Windows... things that will be difficult for you to figure out on the telephone. You need to be able to get to their desktop if you're going to have a chance at all (e.g. some flavor of VNC). The most important thing I learned during the many hours I've spent over the years supporting family members: mouse usage basically becomes a random variable with seniors as their motor control declines. So a) they have no idea where and what they clicked and b) they will frequently do things that produce inexplicable results. An example: a family member called one day to describe a gray screen covering about 90% of the display. Turned out that my grandmother had (somehow) unlocked the toolbar in Windows and dragged it all the way to the top of the screen, rendering the machine useless. Try figuring that out on the telephone. I've never found a tool that would allow me to freeze the desktop and menu items so that they didn't get scrambled... just plan on periodically having a UI puzzle on your hands. Having remote desktop access will help but the only problem there is that you may not be trusted to take remote control, i.e. privacy is an issue. Sigh. Seniors really need only a couple of apps: web, email, and Solitare. Windows is overkill and will be the pebble in your shoe.
Several years ago, my mother got herself a computer. I lived abroad, so she did that all by herself. When I came back, I fell into the trap of doing computer maintenance for family, and finally I got tired and told my mom I'd install Mandrake on her machine. She said okay as long as it worked like Windows. Sure I said, you'll see...
So I went buy a mandrake CD, installed it, gave a small course on how to do things on the machine, and told her how she didn't have to worry about viruses and spyware anymore, etc... The first thing she said to me was : "but my CD with the program to remove red eyes from photos doesn't work on it. And neither does my cliparts utility, and the fun online postcard programs my friends sent me by email." and I thought, shit, I didn't think about that. So I tried to get her to use Gimp and other open-source utilities, but it wasn't "the same", it wasn't "her programs".
So eventually I told her, look, it's either Linux with no worries, or Windows with all your toys, but you worry about security and backups yourself. She chose Windows, never once called me for support anymore, and that was it.
My mom is 70 and now owns 3 computers, including an EeePC that she keeps in her purse all the time. So the moral of that story is, unless your "senior citizens" (also called old persons in non-politically-correct circles incidentally) is mentally deficient or just not interested enough, don't take them for idiots and tell them that, yes, computers are a pain, and you've never had one, and yeah it'll be a tough learning curve, but you're perfectly able to do it. And don't let them use their age as an excuse for laziness.
Have a look at http://www.eldy.eu
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.
1. Don't.
2. Really. Just don't.
Don't do it unless you want to take on the job of cleaning the shit out every time you go over there. If you want to visit frequently and they like you visiting frequently, and spending your time fixing their damn computer, fine. But, uh, no.
Note that even Ubuntu isn't immune - I commend to you this story from Liam On Linux.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I recommend a VNC server listening on a high port for remotely fixing stuff. I did this with my home computers for my family when I went to uni and it saved me a lot of work. You can be talking to her over the phone any saying 'okay then you do this, *click* then you do this *click*.' Handy.
(I'm going to set it to mount / as read only to prevent this when I go there for holidays)
I don't know if thats such a good idea. I know where you're coming from, so hard power offs won't corrupt the filesystem (thanks goodness for ext3/journaling), but what if mahjong or whatever writes or wishes to write data like saves, high scores or something to the hard drive? You might crash your mom's card games like that, and even worse if some important daemon critically relies on logging or (warning: !myareaofexpertise) GNOME/X11 configurations write temporary data to the disk?
I think it would be less risky to just mount the filesystem as read-write and let journaling have its way. Fsck runs automatically in Ubuntu every $COUPLEOF mounts anyways, so in the kind of rare case you would have to reinstall, its just a card game. I also have insomnia and while I play games like Halo and whatnot, if I only played a cheesy card game like that, I wouldn't lose any sleep (haha) over losing a few high scores.
My dad, now 77, has been happily using Yahoo email for over 10 years. I set everything to auto-update and the antivirus, spybot etc to run at set times.
It's that easy.
just give them a PC with no OS on it and an OpenBSD CDrom and Theo's phone number :D
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
If we assume little computer familiarity or aptitude, then that also means no preconcieved notions of how to use a computer. In which case, do not ever (as many comments have already noted) install windows. You'll end up fighting the loosing battle against viruses, malware, bots, etc.
Instead, since they are a "clean slate" simply install a linux distro. Pick your favorite easy to use one and put it on the machine. As they have little familiarity, everything (linux or win) will be both new and a learning experience. Might as well have them learn to use a Ubuntu (or Linux-Mint or whatever) system instead of a windows one, and avoid all the virus/malware/bots etc.
Plus you will avoid the "re-install win every 3 months to clean up the computer" problem.
The original question was about Windows, not mac/linux, so here's my windows answer:
1. Partition the hard disk into two parts, drive-C: should be about 20gb and the rest goes to drive-D:
2. Do a clean install.
3. Install a VNC app (or enable remote desktop).
4. Setup an application based firewall and pre-approve all applications the end-user may need.
5. Setup icons on the desktop for the most important apps (and shortcuts to important folders such as my documents/my pictures/etc...)
6. This is probably the most important, after everything is working correctly, create an image of partition-C:. Once you have an image of the OS parition if the OS starts to degrade, you always have a solid starting point that doesn't require 4 hours to install (takes about 30min to restore a 20gb image on even slower machines)
Use VNC to help remotely so that you won't have to visit for every little fix.
There are other things you can do, but this is the crux of it.
Zoom Player Lead Dev.
My father is 89 and has now been running Ubuntu for 3 years, after the last Mac blew up. He mentioned casually to me the other day that he had upgraded it from 8.04 to 8.10.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I'm very serious. I have parents in Canada. A PC each, Dad on Windows XP, Mum on OpenSuse Linux. Dad is always calling with problems with virus warnings, scare-ware pop-ups and hangs. A recent virus scan found over 400 suspect infections of which around 20 could be regarded as extremely undesirable. And this is with a regularly updated AVG.
The worst problem from Mum is she can't figure out how to put a picture in her newsletter or she's accidentally hidden an email folder.
Remote admin to the Linux machine is a whole lot easier and quicker with SSH than Remote Desktop.
My mother-in-law, who is only a few miles away also uses OpenSuse. I update her system ever year or so and she never has any problems.
I don't give them the root password.
It's way to easy on Windows to fool the unwary into doing something stupid.
...with all the comments about not using Windows. I know the original question was how to setup Windows but why pay to give yourself lots of extra work? If the person does not know much about computers there will be no learning curve from Windows to Linux, no need to make sure firewalls/AV are updated, even if you do use AV for Linux it can be updated silently and emails sent to the grand kid admin :)
My brother used windows for years and eventually after he phoned complaining about lots of pop up pr0n (Which he didnt mind at first....sigh) and finding over 400 occurrences of various virii I installed Ubuntu. There was the initial "Where's this/where's that" but once he got familiar with the main menu he was sorted. Now I hardly ever hear from him...
I have done several installs of Mandriva and PCLINUXOS for friends over 60. Most are still chugging along, virus free and hassle free. Now when they buy new notebooks with windows installed they come to me to remove them, with "I can not find my KDE icon".
Living in Chile
hi,
My grandparents have come to Israel (were we live) from Bulgaria. At one time my grandfather asked for a PC he can play chess and card games with.
I gave him an old PC I no longer use with Windows and Fedora Linux Dual boot (It was some old distribution) and a set of card games and gnu chess...
(My grandpa never used PC in his life and was exposed equally to both OSs)
here is what happened.
1. After brief adaptation period He started using Linux solo.
2. The linux box switched to Bulgarian somehow (so now I cannot use it anymore) - Please note an 80 years old with very limited English could do it! (My grandfather speaks fluent Greek, Bulgarian and Hebrew and can also speak Russian and Spanish... He never got around to learn English....)
3. He played on all card games and gnuchess I installed and even managed to install more games by himself.(following instructions he found in Bulgarian Linux websites....)
4. He completely abandoned windows and plays games and music on Linux all the time.
This is what I learned from the experiment :-)
1. Linux may be more user-friendly if you come with 0 prior knowledge.
2. Linux is probably better suited if your native language is not English.
3. (Off course all those are based on one person not an academic study, so take it with a grain of salt. but still... )
4. If you give your grandpa a Linux box, at some point you would also have to give one to your grandma....
and create a account which is not administrator which logs on automatically.
The most important thing before starting on this sort of a mission is not to take the needs of class of user lightly. With that in mind, I'll tell you what's worked in my family for many years of trouble-free Windows computing.
First, ascertain the needs of the user. Do they need to:
1. Browse the web?
2. Check email? If so, is it web-based? POP/SMTP? IMAP?
3. Instant message/Skype/VoIP?
4. Print b&w or color?
5. Use an office suite?
6. Watch movies, listen to music, etc?
This will determine which software you'll install. Now I'll go into the items above and pitfalls I've encountered.
Item #1: I use Firefox with adblock plus, IEview, flash, shockwave, Java, and google toolbar. I've added automatic updates to the list. Firefox puts up (annoying to computer newbies) messages about add-on updates and browser updates. If its possible to make these completely notification silent then aim for it. I must confess I haven't done the research when I setup this system a few years ago because it was easier to teach them how to ignore these messages. It is important to tell them to ignore any pop-ups that adblock doesn't catch and a few other little items related to safe browsing habits.
Item #2: I insist on using a desktop mail client such are Outlook with gmail or google apps because it integrates well with their PIM needs and there are no passwords to remember. You could achieve the same thing with Thunderbird. I prefer POP3/SMTP with gmail because even if my target user does something completely foolish (for example, delete all their mail), then gmail still has an archieved copy that can easily be copied over from IMAP. A quick teaching session on how to read, reply, print, make attachments, and delete email is in order.
Item #3: I have created instant messaging accounts on the relevant services for them. I usually lock down the accounts so they can't be added by any joe schmoe and pre-seed their contact list with family and friends. I know it takes time but it saves a lot of problems later. Lastly, safe IM habits need to be taught. I always tell them that NEVER open any links or save any files that may be sent to them over IM unless they call the person sending things over and confirm its clean.
Item #4: This is simple. Just install the printer. Teach them how to monitor toner or ink levels. Also teach them how to change toner/ink cartridges and add paper. Also, you should thoroughly examine the printer for how it opens and closes, where the paper jams could be, etc.
Item #5: This is pretty easy as well. Just make sure you establish a good way for them to save their files in an organized fashion.
Item #6: This can be difficult. Make sure to install a good codec pack like K-Lite Mega Codec pack, a good player (Media Player Classic or VLC), and setup the default actions for Music CDs, DVDs, etc.
The above is the easy part.
The way to make sure this all works is addressing the maintenance issues. In no particular order.
1. I have told my users to leave their computers running 24/7 and I make sure to allow the monitor, hard drives, etc to power down after a short amount of time of idling.
2. Virus scanning. Get a virus scanner that allows silent updating. Set a nightly schedule for a full sweep of the hard drive. Or do a "quick scan" nightly if the scanner has a good realtime on-access scanner and do a full sweep around 10-11pm at night once or twice a week. I use McAfee Viruscan Enterprise. You can use the Corporate version of Symantec AV or one of the dozens of free scanners. Just make sure you're familiar with the software. I suggest not installing one of those security suites because the software puts its tentacles into everything and makes the configuration difficult to control.
3. Malware scanning. Install Spybot Search & Destroy. Use the Immuninze option to generate a blacklist for the system HOST file. Then install Malwarebyes Anti-Malware. Buy a copy (I'm not affiliated with them) for its realtime scanning, scheduli
Quite so sir, I gave my 74yo father (Now 82), who worked in truck driving, a PC 8 tears ago and since then he has become quite the internet/Email/digital/Ebay photo editing, and various IM clients expert.
He was starting to sit around and do nothing, with some degree of mental degradation this has led him to whole new worlds of info and contacts-he even told me he would have liked to have worked in IT. If anything he is mentally sharper now than 10 years ago!
I wouldn't let him write stuff down, and showed him how to work things out and what to watch for in terms of virus and malware
Somehow he has avoided viruses over the years and nearly all malware.
It's a miracle for XP. He has also become a computer power fiend, WD Raptor, high end Core 2 duo 4 gig RAM 21" CRT-he says most other computers are slow...and upgrades every 2 years.
But we can't get my Mum to use a PC at all, even with games.
It has been very rewarding to see my Dad enjoy himself so much-He even gets a kick out of doing internet banking! (especially when I need to borrow money) (-:
So as much as I agree with "stick Ubuntu on it", that's not answering the guy's question. We're going to have to assume his Grandma needs: 1. E-mail (Thunderbird? With Gmail's not bad antispam filters going?) 2. A browser (Firefox, with some useful senior citizen extensions [if they exist!]), and possibly... 3. an IM client for a webcam (Skype?). Since it's Windows, you'll also need 4. An auto-updating AV 5. An auto-updating firewall 6. An auto-updating spyware muncher 7. Remote control e.g. VNC or TeamViewer, or the like. I can't really comment on these last ones-- I left Windows behind years ago, and only use it on my work PC, which has Trend something or other on it, and doesn't visit naughty, malware ridden websites (on pain of unemployment). One other thought. Windows XP FLP? Is that less of a mess in terms of vulnerabilites than full blown XP? Can anyone suggest anything better?
Vanilla VNC without encryption is terrible. I use VNC only with SSH tunnelling.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
Ubuntu for your grandmother
davecb5620@gmail.com
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
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 is very good.
Point their DNS to OpenDns http://www.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.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
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.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
"what if mahjong or whatever writes or wishes to write data like saves, high scores or something to the hard drive"
In Linux, all user-space apps write to /home/%user (and also /tmp)
If he has any sense (and I assume he does) then he will have /home on a different partition.
Anybody who installs linux without doing that is simply asking for trouble.
"You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
Otherwise... "Hey!!! why does this thing keeps wobbling all the time".
The last usable Windows; without going on a training course, was Windows 95B. The current incarnations have too much eye-candy and would be confusing to your grandmother. There doesn't seem to be any advance on usability since, XtreeGOLD, EudoraMail and Netscape running under Digital Research DOS 6.22.
davecb5620@gmail.com
1.) /tmp is still under /, which he wants to mount read only
/home were its own partition, does that necessarily make it immune to hard poweroffs?
2.) And if
We've trained lots of elderly people on Linux machines and even put some machines in senior citizen centers. Configuring Suse Linux for them was the right first step to do. The next step should be a GUI designed for them. If you're interested in contributing, drop me a note (a_rueckert@gmx.net), and I'll give you more details.
sonny what gives you the &^*$ idea that I need you to configure my PC? do you even know how to configure Gentoo ?
Me and my friends run a little IT firm where we also do residential repair. We just so happen to be conveniently located directly in front of a retirement community. Each elderly person learns differently.. I have some older customers that are computer whizzes, and some that call us up for a service call just because half of a window is off the screen and they have no idea how to drag it back.. setting up their desktop to make it easy for them is definitely a big step, but more importantly is how you train them.. judge what type of person they are and how quick they can learn.. focus on their strengths.. then you can determine how they should be taught.. the elderly tend to like slow, clear and friendly talkers that make the technology sound exciting.. the purpose of teaching them isn't to force technology on them, it's more-so just getting them to actually enjoy using the computer..
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
No matter if its Windows, Ubuntu or Mac people have to deal with email. This is tricky for older folks because of spam. Even with a filter some gets thru. I had to explain to my dad: don't believe any thing that you read. No Bill Gates is not going to pay you money if you click here, etc.
Its hard.
I think your question, and the answers you will get, would benefit greatly from a bit more of context. One important point is if the person that will get the PC has any prior experience with Windows and computers in general, and the intended use for the computer.
If he (or she) has used Windows in the past I would say install the exact same version they used (or the closest you can get your hands on, stay away from Vista) and do a security lockup on everything. Don't leave the possibility for software installation, install Firefox and ThunderBird, and Open Office. Hide or remove the icons for IE.
With no experience on Windows I would say that there are far better alternatives. If a PC is really needed there's Ubuntu. It is extremely easy to get around, easier than any version of Windows, and far more secure. However if the intended use is only browsing the web and maybe using webmail, a Nintendo Wii will perfectly fit the job and also give as bonus endless hours of fun.
Senior citizens really, really, don't need computers complicating their lives. It is not uncommon for my grandma to call me 3-5 times weekly on just how to work the TV remote; imagine what it would be like if she was trying to watch a "dot com." Senior citizens won't view email or web browsing as a convenience. If you want an older person to take advantage of global mass communication infrastructure, the best thing to do is get him/her a telephone with huge, easily readable buttons.
Protect the main system partition with Steadystate
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx
Create a separate partition for documents.
Ten "ubuntu is easier than Windows" comments later, I can't believe I am twistedly talented enough to be the only guy to break unbuntu in 5 minutes flat.
Recipe:
Begin with a nice, roasted Dapper Drake.
See flashy "Upgrade LTS to LTS - Dapper to Hardy".
Visit Synaptic & (attempt) to set repositories to Hardy.
Begin update attempt.
"You must freshen files before getting the new release".
Attempt to get new versions of existing.
"Edgy Eft is available" (No mention of Hardy.)
Clicked to get some Edgy Files.
Lights out.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
actually, in many modern linux distros, /tmp is mounted as a memory fs by default. and even if he chose to have /tmp NOT be memfs, there is nothing stopping you from mounting /tmp separately from / so that / really can be read-only.
/home from power failure, use a journaling fs...
as for protecting
Not that I'm doubting the validity of each side of these comments, but an interesting way to get a "documented" account of which is easier might be to reach out to PCMag (which has become less overtly biased over the past number of years. Or, maybe even better, WSJ's Mossberg, or whomever the /. community can decide on - well, so much for this idea *grin*) and get them to try an Ubuntu vs. Windows scenario with real-world relatives. That could, if the article is done properly, give the reasons and examples of the successes and failures of each (and be honest, there will be successes and failures on each side.)
Bark less. Wag more.
Since you're talking about a senior citizen, sometimes it pays to consider their physical disabilities, too. For example, consider a large-screen TV/Monitor, if they have trouble seeing the small typefaces.
Consider using a large-keys keyboard (http://www.fentek-ind.com/bigkey.htm), if they have parkinsons, or other motor-control problems.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
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.
"I fell into the trap of doing computer maintenance for family, and finally I got tired and told my mom I'd install Mandrake on her machine. She said okay as long as it worked like Windows. Sure I said, you'll see...
.. doesn't work .. neither does my cliparts utility, and the fun online postcard programs my friends sent me by email"
What prompted her and you for the change-over. Why did you pick Mandrake, have you ever installed a Linux distro before or since? "the program to remove red eyes
I'm sure red-eye-reduction was available on Mandrake, even wayBack. What was the name (and version) of the prog she originally used to remove red-eye. Do you seriously expect us to believe you borked a Working machine and never checked that the data from the old OS would be readable on the new. Incidentally how did you save the data files and why didn't you dual boot ?
"She chose Windows, never once called me for support anymore, and that was it"
It's inexplicable that someone hasn't had a problem with Windows in several years, not even a single teeny-weensy virus from all those fun online postcard programs she gets by email. Incidentally what postcards are you referring to ?
davecb5620@gmail.com
Most seniors use their PC only to communicate through email and/or videoconferencing, navigate the web and find stuff through search engines or wikipedia. They rarely, very rarely, need to install new stuff or use specific applications that aren't available under Linux.
Therefore, though advocating Linux to a professional who needs Autocad or Quicken, or to a teen Crysis player, would be foolish at least, this is not the case for senior citizen or similar specific situations (call centers that don't need Windows software, for example).
That way you can easily customize the desktop leaving out whatever is distracting or dangerous and offer at the same time virus/malware protection. If you strip down a Windows desktop you can certainly get the same ease of use, but that would not offer better protection.
throw windows away, it's way to complex for such a person, throw Gnome and KDE out too.
Work out your requirements and build up a system to match them. Trying to cut things out of windows to make it fit your requirements won't work
...and that is all I have to say about that.
http://jessta.id.au
Assuming he's running Windows and that is what they have, how about running Firefox in Kiosk mode? Is there such a thing cause I would like to do the same, I know Internet Exploder has the switch, can anyone point out the same for FF?
Get up!
"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.
"You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
It sort of depends on the age you're considering.
My grandparents that are in their late 80s find using the mouse difficult. They have no problem using the up and down arrow keys to select options in menu.
They had a "mailstation" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cidco_MailStation) for years with no problem, but switching to windows ended their computer use.
Why do you want to use Windows for that ?
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?
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
I watch a show called the Dragon's Den and someone had a solution for this problem. I don't know how much it costs though.
http://mysoftshell.com/r/indiv/info.php
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.
I am a senior citizen and have configure several PC's for my fellow seniors. The thing to do is have a fellow senior experienced with PC's configure it for them. I configure PCLOS or UBUNTU for them. Then explain how to use it. Usually that involves setting up email, setting up Kopete or pidgen, OpenOffice and firefox. The I show them how to contact me with Kopete. Most seniors are more comfortable with other seniors.
My wife, who's an attorney, for more than a decade kept every memo she ever wrote in a SINGLE word processing doc. It ran to thousands of pages. She was afraid of creating documents.
"Senior Citizen" is just a soft eufemism [minute 5:00]
I also seriously recommend Ubuntu. It's got all software you need and installing new software is simple. If they have a problem, you can either log in remotely, or dictate commands over the phone.
Plus you can easily make the icons larger. The people won't be bothered as much with useless questions like "Machine 123.232.124.122 has repeatedly tried to access port 2343 UDP service svrhost.dll [Yes, No, Abort, All, Apfelstrudel]".
If you want to give them a machine that "just works", get some flavour of Ubuntu. If they are still mentaly able to use a computer (my father unfortunately isn't anymore) they will find a computer they can use.
ended up giving her a mac mini.... so if you want to configure Windows for a senior - my suggestion is to turn the PC into a hackintosh osx. Just my $0.02
setting a pc and supporting an 80 year old aunt was one of the most frustrating thing I've ever done in IT.... I actually had to tell her to put the pc in a garbage bag and bring it outside cause she would NEVER GET IT... and proceeded to smash things to feel better. It really was something. Never felt like that before or since. She really drove me mad! :(
http://mrhide.pinnesota.org
The start menu is too cluttered on most machines to be useful any longer. That's why everything puts an icon in the tray, the quick launch bar, and the desktop too. Of course, now those are overrun with things like "Adobe Reader" and "Java Web Start" which nobody runs.
I recommend finding some kind of program manager tool that just shows the 5 icons they need, and forego the start menu until they are more advanced.
Having spent days (weeks, months, years?) configuring Windows XP over the years I tend to follow a pattern that works for me, ymmv.
Windows still installs broken (imco) in that the first user installed becomes an Administrator by default. With Windows, we all know by now that running as Administrator is asking for it (some have likened it to pulling ones pants down and bending over the chair.) So it's important to remove Administrator group privileges from the primary user, having them run as Users only. This prevents a host of malware and other malfeasants from gaining illegitimate access to the computer.
Install a good anti-virus software, my personal favourite is Symantec Corporate for it's ease of configuration and automation for updates. I set the software to live update daily, perform a startup scan of files loading into memory at boot time, and a weekly full scan of everything on the hdd.
Ensure that you're running Windows Update to the last iteration and get all of the updates installed correctly. Turn on automatic updates, and set it to install automatically.
Run MBSA... follow the directions provided.
Install Firefox, and the NoScript add-on. Make it the default browser in all profiles by logging on and making that choice. Ensure NoScript is up and running correctly.
The base system has excellent accessibility tools, ensure the user is familiar with them, and perhaps ensure that accessibility shortcuts are available from the desktop if necessary.
Teach... (who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?)
Wash, rinse, repeat.
if I claimed I was emperor just because some watery tart lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away!
While I agree Ubuntu would be the best choice, my mother has a wireless HP MF and an iPaq. I don't believe full support for those devices is available in Ubuntu. My solution was to install Avast antivirus and ZoneAlarm on her system along with logmein.com's add-in so I could remote in when needed. I kept her XP installation to a minimum and so far no problems.
My consulting practice, Geezer Computer Education and Consulting has worked with seniors for over 10 years. I am the Senior Geezer who came from the world of Information Systems. (1) Remove all bloatware (2) Install Norton Security Suite 2009 that offers a lot of protection very quietly (senior men watch a lot of porno) (3) Low resolution on a large monitor - most like it at 800 x 600, but on very large monitors that can be higher (4) Install Cloudmark or other strong spam tools (5) Insttall Netcraft or other strong phishing tools (6) Set them up with gotomypc and monitor their updates for them. Many seniors pay no attention to the system tray. (7) Set them up with Roboform Pro and sync their passwords to a USB drive (8) Automatically Sync favorites and pictures to USB drive (9) Spend many days showing and explaining to them what a Window is, what a dialog box is, what a pull down is. There are many studies showing that Seniors have reduced 3D vision and have trouble distinguishing between the dialog box and the background window. (10) Get rid of any programs not currently used. They can always be installed later. (11) Teach them, using gotomypc, the difference between downloading and installing (12) Teach them the most common terms they will need to explain the problem (monitor, computer, mouse, keyboard, router, modem, etc.) Do not assume understanding until they can explain it back to you. I cannot emphasize enough the value of good remote control. Also, though Ubunto may be fine, they will not be able to get assistance as readily as if they have Windows. My seniors have actually loved Vista, though they were initially very skeptical about moving from XP. Good luck, the seniors you serve well will definitely appreciate you. Albert
Oh God I used to dread my "holidays" down at my parents place, fixing up all the problems with Windows (starting at 3.11 and ending at 2000). Then I installed RedHat with a "Redmond" theme and...no phone calls, no teeth gnashing, no drama, no tears...heaven! Since then, only a few minor niggles when the ISP changes. And an change a few years later to Ubuntu when RedHat went all Gates on me. Oh, and one major niggle when a local IT "guru" reformatted the drive for my mum and reinstalled windows because "you can only access the internet with windows".
He has since been run over by a truck. How is that for karma?
P.S. I do not have a truck licence.
Doesn't seem very sexy.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
game saves would probably be written to /home (mounted rw). /var could also be mounted rw, or trick that are used by livecds applied (limited logging to ramdisk, disabling logging etc). making /var rw would be easier, of course :)
while log and pidfiles might cuse some problems,
Rich
Don't use Windows. Use Fedora, or any other Linux distribution. In Windows you will have to install an antivirus, deal with spyware and malware problems, and unless you block almost everything in Windows, you will have problems anyway. If he's going to use his computer for browsing and email, Linux is MORE than enough.
I had the same problems for years, I did the linux desktop stuff for them, but still they had problems.
Finally I fixed everything for good, and everyone is happy, they all use Mac's now.
I'd like to amend to my earlier statement. Since you already own the hardware, just download a copy of Ubuntu or plain vanilla Debian and install that. Get all the updates and relax. But if you plan on getting a new machine, an iMac is the way to go. http://www.ubuntu.com/ http://www.debian.org/
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
asked what he wanted to be able to do and gave it to him in a Ubuntu system. OpenOffice, GIMP, and more make it easy. In fact, yesterday was the first 'support' call after a year. Seems he 'accidently' went to a questionable site and the system was trying to install something. Crashing the system then NOT restoring FireFox session worked like a charm. Oh, I did have to go out and show him where to plug in the printer. That worked right off the bat too. Best part was nearly 3 months after giving the system to him one of his students (he teaches music from his home) got on his PC and said 'Hey, this isn't windows!'. Har!
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
You're going to waste the money of the elderly on windows licenses? Shame on you.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
Try installing Windows SteadyState. A reboot will fix the PC every time. :)
After using a Mac for the past year, I can't honestly see how anyone would wish Windows upon a family member or novice.
I started writing code for Windows 3.0 and continued to do so until just a few years ago - but the current state of the product is just so unpredictable that it just doesn't make sense anymore. The whole re-install every 6-12 months is a no started and the spy/bloat ware just kills performance so quickly. Vista is just a mess - I think MS had good intentions but got lost in the design. I've used Linux for the past 14 years but still don't feel that it has matured to the same level as OS X.
Both DOD (Dear Old Dad) and my wife wanted their own computers. Neither has the foggiest idea as to how they work. When I asked them what they were going to use them for (always important), the answer was the same: surfing, email, and maybe the occasional document.
So, I gave them a pair of older machines, both with SuSE loaded and the Gnome desktop set. Result: I haven't received a trouble call from DOD in years, and my wife won't even let me TOUCH hers ("Because it works!").
'Nuff said.
Regards;
Whatever you do - Windows or Linux - set up RDP and/or Reverse VNC:
http://www.vncscan.com/vs/oneclickVNC.htm
http://www.uvnc.com/addons/singleclick.html
You will need a Hell Desk service and it will save you lots of petrol.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
A big source of headaches for me, when setting up the computer for a similar situation, is the Windows key. Disable it here: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/tune-151.html
a bus :D
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
from someone who has taken 10000,'s of tech support calls - it cant be done. (people do win lotto) No matter what you write down, no matter what you install. I mean no insult. People from all walks of life call tech support. Doctors and lawyers to unemployed stoners. It doesn't mean they are stupid...but I do think there is some truth to "you cant teach an old dog new tricks". Especially when your talking about technology.
Just install mint or ubuntu or any other good Gnu/Linux distro .
Even if you install all the necessary protection programs in Windows the antivirus subscription will be too much to pay at some point, for a retiree.
To hell with microsoft.
Volunteer at a adult learning center twice a week. There are eight others who assist older adults with computer learning at no cost to them. Once a month one of the mentors gives a presentation on common computer use. Seems email and computer security are most often requested subjects, so those are given often. At the open sessions the mentors stress the importance of using a virus program and a firewall. Have attempted to offer a presentation on Ubuntu but none of the other mentors were interested. The learning center is funded in part by the local school district and the center uses the school server for connection to the internet. If the person brings in a laptop we attempt to make the computer more user friendly for them with icons as some have suggested for email and internet.
If they have an old Windows box that keeps breaking and you want to get them onto something easier and more secure why not try Linux first? It's free. Download and burn the CD / DVD and try it. Many have live CDs so they can play with a few to see if Gnome / KDE / XFCE etc appeals more to them. When one is picked from the list, install it. Leave it a while.
If they are having problems, THEN spend the inflated price on a designer Mac. If they find it works fine, they have a free solution which is not locked into the vendor revenue stream. Would you get the same refund option is you bought a shiny new Windows or Mac PC?
And change the root password. It's the only change from default I'd perform on a "senior citizen" pc.
I am an MCSE, my recommendation would to buy them a mac, they are bullet proof in comparison to a PC. My illerterate roomate finds it a joy to use and I find I don't have to spend all my spare time keeping his PC in order
...so much as all the garbage that gets installed by default when a machine leaves the shop (antivirus and ISP trials, and so on). Three of the last four "friends and family" housecalls I've done have been due to things like antivirus trials expiring (the other for what it's worth was "DVD writing is a bit crap in Windows XP" which was something that I couldn't do much about*).
Make sensible choices for web and email, ensure that plugins are properly installed for any media that they're going to use, make sure the text on the screen is BIG, and make sure that they know how to get a copy of anything that they want OFF the computer (not in case they press the wrong button, but because "pictures aren't pictures until they're printed out").
It's worth mentioning that the dodgier corners of the web do exist (if only because it tends not to be documented in mainstream "how-to" books, and they're going to find out sooner or later when they use an "innocent" search term that actually means something quite different now).
With the three or four genuinely "senior" PCs that I've set up over the years non-Windows has never been an option, either because there's always some Windows application or other that is "needed", or because all of their other friends and family use it and they're part of the support group too. If they were really just using email, office-type documents and a web browser, then some sort of "kiosk-mode" would be an option, but a suitable candidate hasn't appeared yet.
* this would have been a genuine "I'd use another OS to do that if I were you" opportunity, if it hadn't been for the "other needed software" on the machine as well.
Install Ubuntu, configure the network connection. Get a good laser printer and hook it up. Do the same with a large monitor. Set up the email etc. etc.
Set up an automatic backup procedure for the home directory.
Watch the person as they work on the machine. Let them tell you what fonts and screen sizes are best for them. Have them show you the major tasks that they do with it. Put all those major apps on the task bar. Add a shortcut to their files. Configure their default web page(s) to what they'd like. Taylor the computer to them and not the other way around. Make sure that all the equipment is reliable and that the configuration is stable.
I did this for a number of people including my father who used his computer for seven years without a crash or a virus. The key is that they feel that THEY are directing the configuration. Given them ownership of the process is the key.
*** Don't be dull.***
Seriously, it's best to keep old people off the net. They'll just end up giving your inheritance to some Nigerian barrister.
Trying to teach a 80 year old new anything.
Just be nice and do it for them.
Regardless of what platform you use, here are two things that you absolutely must do. This is coming from experience with getting my grandmother to use the internet.
1) Write stuff down on paper! Give them step by step instructions on how to open their email client, read an email, print, reply and forward. Especially if they are old! I've found that older people are really good at following directions, but not so great on remembering them. Showing them how to do something once will not stick in long term memory. Be specific in your instructions... Rather than "go to the print dialog" you have to tell them "go to the file menu, then click 'print...'. If you can get all of your instructions on just one or two peices of paper, then laminate them and tape them somewhere where they are highly visible so they don't get lost.
2) Educate them about the do's and dont's of using the internet. Most problems such as spyware and viruses would be handled by using a non-Windows OS as a lot of posters have specified above. But they still need to be aware of things that most of us would consider common sense. Teach them about not replying to emails from people they don't know, and about phishing scams. Let them know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Show them some examples from your own junk mail folder. Teach them the difference between a web site's content and the ads that the site displays (trust me, they won't know the difference in a lot of cases), and how to look at the URL of a link to help them. Also show them how to use bookmarks and maybe even set up a few for the sites they will be using most often so they don't get suckered by a name-mangling site like hotmial.com.
When I set up my grandmother's computer some years ago, #1 really helped out. But I didn't focus so much on #2, and it literally cost me hours of follow up visits.
Another option would be to use UnionFS, have a small write partition for the data and union it with the normal read-only filesystem. If anything breaks just clean out the writable partion and you have a clean system again.
- seriously, remove the CAPS lock key
"You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas"
Sen. Davy Crocket to US Congress, Nov. 1, 1835
1. Place PC under wobbly table-leg.
2. Job done!
I've set up a number of PCs for family members of the years. I'll talk about the XP/Vista/2000 side of the house, I've done Linux before but about 100 people already posted ahead of me :)
Some hints:
1. Install the OS on one drive, or partition and then the very first thing you want to do is point the users's profile (My Documents, etc.) at another partition or drive. We'll get to that later.
2. The "blob" theory. I've learned in over a decade of working support that the average users has blobs. They have an "e-mail blob" a "web blob", a "get my iPod synched" blob. They don't care what the blob is called, they just know it does some mystical thing that lets them get to want they want. So make sure those blobs are in an easy to find place :)
3. Replace IE with Firefox/Opera/Chrome/Your choice. 99% malware is dealt with this way. Install AdBlock Plus or equivelent. replace Firefox's icon with the IE icon if your user is particularly stupid. Remove all shortcuts to IE.
4. Set up automatic updates for the Windows crap and the anti-virus. Set it to go off at some point when you know they'll be using it. Most people turn their PCs off so having automatic updates happen in the middle of the night is a waste of time. Spend several patient minutes teaching them to pay attention to that little yellow shield and obey it when it appears. :)
5. Install TightVNC, or DameWare, or subscribe to Webex, or some other way that you can remotely control it with. Install a blob on the desktop that'll tell them their IP. Punch a hole in the firewall to allow access. Webex has saved my parent's PC (they live 4,000 miles away) on dozens of occasions.
6. Don't let them install ANYTHING without contacting you first. Preferably have them call you and let you do it. It's amazing how much crap users put on their PCs on a whim.
7. Now you done that, Ghost the system partition. They're going to have it broken in a month or two and you're going to want to quickly reinstall it. That's why we put their profile on a separate drive or partition.
Just paste a picture of Matlock to an old Etch-A-Sketch and tell them it's a laptop.
Seriously, give them the intertoobs, and within a week all their money will heading to Nigeria to purchase viAG-rRa.
So what you're saying is you're like Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness. 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.
If you set yourself up as an Administrator, you could lock down a lot of the settings that could mess up the computer, such as blocking access to Control Panel.
I have a bad feeling about this...
I would strongly suggest installing UltraVNC (http://www.uvnc.com/). My wife and I just recently built a computer for her grandfather (81 and just got his first PC), WITH WindowsXP, because others in his assisted living complex can help, as well as my wife's parents. I've got his router configured to let me connect via https. Naturally, I've created a very secure password. But now, if he has a problem or doesn't know where to click he can call anyone and we can easily connect to help him... and not only to "fix" the problem, but also to SHOW him what he needs to do, or show him HOW to do something. It's a BIG HELP. But be prepared to receive calls... they WILL come :-).
btw: Is it neccesary to drop in an ubuntu plug in EVERY windows topic? Perhaps it would simply be nice to use Windows because everyone else he/she knows would be able to help?
I feel like I should speak to this as extensively as I can, since I'm self-employed as a tech support guy, and around 95 percent of my 250+ clients are seniors.
The suggestion about using Ubuntu is a good one, but Ubuntu may not be going far enough in the direction of ease-of-use. I'm surprised more people don't seem to be aware of Linux Mint, which removes the hassle of installing video codecs and browser plugins, so the setup process for a basic user is two steps - 1. Install the OS, and 2. Install Acrobat Reader and the browser plugin for it. This takes around half an hour, and then you're done, and Mint 6 is based on Ubuntu Intrepid anyway, but the menu is a bit slicker (imho), and the artwork more polished.
Putting icons on the desktop for the browser and the email program, and also the word processor, is essential, of course. Ubuntu or Mint is a great Windows replacement for nearly any beginning or advanced user - it's normally only intermediate users who want to install lots of random crap from the internet who might get upset when they can't under Wine. In my experience, most seniors fall into the "basic user" category anyway, so they won't really notice a difference between Windows and Ubuntu unless they're already dependent on AOL 9.
With seniors, the most important thing is to be not just patient but reassuring. Many seniors have a mental block against technology, but if you patiently reassure them that yes, they really can figure it out if they just read everything on the screen and use logic, eventually they'll believe you and try. This can be time consuming at first, but in the long run it will save you a great deal of time as they start to become self-sufficient. It's a natural human tendency in most people to bug someone else if you think you can get away with it, rather than trying to fix your problems yourself - training that out of a person can be tricky, but is ultimately very beneficial for both you and your time.
That's you out of the will, then!
That's a serious case of arrogance that you've got right there. Do you know what all "senior citizens" want? Perhaps you've asked them all? Shouldn't they make their own decisions?
if this was a discussion about how to set up a linux box for an elderly user and people shouted to buy them a mac every one of those comments would be modded down as troll.
gotta love slashdont stupidity.
There's always the option of using something like SoftShell which is specifically designed for use by seniors.
http://mysoftshell.com/r/indiv/info.php
In general, an out of the box mac is ready to work for stupid users because it aims for simplicity. In comparison Windows software has complex interfaces in the hope that users will do more after they finish learning how the UI works, or simply because their creators don't know better. See Every time you provide an option, you're asking the user to make a decision.
Old iMac for a few hundred on ebay (or new mac mini).
Load 10.4 or 10.5.
Create a limited user account... complete with simple finder and permission to use a handful of apps.
Create gmail account and configure Mail for the gmail account.
Install FireFox with adblock. Configure google homepage. .....
The only time my parents have had a problem was when my dad asked me how to "defrag" the computer. I told him it does it automatically... and just leave the thing on. I repair permissions every once in a while when I stop by...
but it's great to have a system that's easy for them to use, impossible for them to break, and they can plug in any camera or printer and not need my help.. or have to load bloatware in order to use stuff.
How about you have granny not use a computer.
It took some of us years and thousands of dollars to get where we are today, so that we can configure this stuff for a senior citizen?
No, try again
My mother had a Compaq desktop with Windows XP for a couple years before it died. During that time I usually got calls every other week with issues, worries about viruses, locking up, confusing with the interface, and on and on. Finally after the desktop died completely I convinced her to get a very basic iMac. It came with a printer, and she could be happier. The setup was minutes, and I showed her a few basics on how to navigate. Since then she has never called me for issues especially worries about viruses. It has been well over two years now and close to three without a problem. I would wholeheartedly recommend a Mac to any senior.
I'll answer his question, since he didn't ask about installing Ubunghole.
Windows has a great many features which would help for this. I'll assume Windows XP or higher. You can use the Accessibility Options to enable a lot of good features for people with difficulty seeing, among other things-
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsxp/default.aspx
Adjusting the Fonts, Icon size, and the use of the Magnifyer will generally be most useful. The others may be a big help, depending on the situation.
My mother doesn't have bad eyesight, but she does poke around and try installing stuff she shouldn't. For that situation, you need to simply have it autologon into a restricted account. There isn't much damage she can do without being an administrator.
And if you want a "set and forget" web browsing machine, I always recommend virus/spyware/firewall protection. I'm liking Avast antivirus, the free version has any features you would want, and auto-updates. For spyware, you want to protect the machine from getting infected in the first place, so use SpywareBlaster. It's free if you want to manual update, but I recommend paying the $10/year to enable the autoupdate features- SpywareBlaster is great software, and supporting them with the nominal fee is a win for everyone. Spybot S&D likewise has an immunize feature, but no autoupdate, but it also has a very good spyware scanner (but if you are using SpywareBlaster, it shouldn't catch anything anyway).
Finally, you can go with Windows Firewall, but I recommend using ZoneAlarm. They also have a free edition, and it's all just about anyone would need.
Windows is easy and secure if you know what you are doing. Sadly... most people here don't, which is why they have problems.
That's easy.
Step 1: Cut out the back of a 24 inch square cardboard box
Step 2: Inside arrange a rotary dial phone, a number two pencil with lots of lined paper, a credit card, envelopes and a few first class stamps and an address book. Behind that place a large photograph of any Florida beach in the summertime.
Optional: Put a smaller cardboard box next to the larger box with some string attached between the two. Tell grandpa or grandma it's "your fiber broadband connection for optimizing your upstream and downstream file downloading capabilities. It's fully automatic."
They will look at you oddly and say, "Umm, yes, thank you, child." And you never have to worry about it, or them, ever again.
Teach him or her to install the OS itself. I struggled for years with my father trying to walk him through the silliest processes (such as RIGHT CLICK), and would spend countless hours on the phone after ever upgrade dealing with questions. That doesn't include the system crashes, glitches, and failures (don't even start me with wireless ;)
;)
The various necessary reinstall after some failure or whatnot finally prompted me to show him how to wipe it and reinstall the OS itself. I made sure the CD build had all of the necessary drivers on it (XP by the way). Saves me from slaving over a PC for a few days when I go to visit.
A couple of other points I would stress...
Make sure he or she has the system software, and that you show him how to install it. Write him a basic how to doc with simple steps. Nothing elaborate. Just "Click Next" type stuff.
If possible, put remote control software on it with a strong password. It will save you many many hours of grief.
Last but not least, have endless patience for repeated questions like "Did you say right click? Is that with the right mouse button", "Where is My Computer?", "Which one is the DVD Drive?", and my personal favorite, "Which one is the computer and which one is the monitor?"
As to which OS you should use, I think they can learn any of them. You could always give them a multi-boot and let them decide, and then remove the loser at your next trip.
Good Luck
What? You mean you haven't checked www.HowToBuildYourOlderParentAComputerNotLivingInTheSameHousehold.com ???? Gosh.
Basic orders like 'open $PROGRAM', 'scan computer', 'check email' could enhance and increase user trust. I haven't tried that myself, but it might be the right direction to go.
Wipe the drive clean and install Slackware. Let them do their own configuration. No need to coddle them. They'll learn quicker that way.
Never liked granny that much anyway.
photosMy Photostream
The response to this article proves what I've been saying all along.
Linux is for noobs.
It takes someone special to run Windows.
Simple: Not.
-- The Online Photo Editor - http://www.phixr.com
Having been down this road many, many times in the past years, I have but one word: don't. If the person has never used a Windows machine, they'll be completely flummoxed before the end of their first attempts to send an email. And, while I can highly recommend Ubuntu as a reasonable and easily usable alternative, I find myself echoing more the person who sent their grandmother an iMac. That's the way to go, if you can afford it. If not, definitely go Ubuntu. Windows XP and/or Vista will simply drive a user crazy with all of the popups. And nothing is truly automatic on Windows. Imagine getting this message: "Windows needs to install critical updates on your system. Click here." And then they click. And it loads the Microsoft internets and all of the "Hey, we're going to pop up a square box and gray out everything you want to click on just to tell you you should try Microsoft Office". I'm a former IT worker and spend 8 hours a day in front of computers and I have difficulty navigating Vista without putting a fist through the monitor. Think of how the same experience will feel to someone who already feels ignorant. I'd predict this is what will happen, as it is what happened to an elderly friend of mine: The CD tray will get used as a coaster to keep the coffee cup out of the way of the old manual typewriter he's propped up in front of the monitor -- on which the "Aquarium" Screensaver is permanently set.
See flashy "Upgrade LTS to LTS - Dapper to Hardy".
Visit Synaptic & (attempt) to set repositories to Hardy.
What? After seeing the flashy message in Update Manager, you leave it for Synaptic??
You're doing it wrong!
It must be Windows. It needs half a gig of RAM and a hardware-accelerated graphics card just to run Solitaire.
I set my parents up with an Ubuntu box a few years ago, three or four now, I can't remember. I'd had a windows box for them previously, but it was agonizing, with the amount of spyware/malware floating around, and stupid web-popups causing virus/trojan infections. So I thought to give Ubuntu a try. I got them a $200 box from wal-mart, threw an extra stick of RAM and a DVD drive in it, then installed whichever version of Ubuntu was current at the time. It works great for them, they can browse wherever they need to on the internet, check their emails and communicate with their brothers and sisters. No need for convoluted regular updates of antivirus programs. It 'just worked", was very inexpensive, and my parents actually enjoy the internet and the ability to find information about things they're interested in. Fast forward to the present, still on the same box, running Hardy Heron, still enjoying and using the machine without any problems. I call that good.
If you can read this, you are most likely close enough.
For added security for my parents, I installed a two way switch on their cable line. I labeled it "Internet ON" and "Internet OFF". Now they can leave it on all they like and it saves me trips to remove malware. Best security (foolproof and understandable to the general public) solution and cheap!
-Install Firefox and teach the basics
-Put icons for desired websites on the desktop or setup a homepage which can display relevant information(iGoogle: mail, RSS, shortcuts, news, weather...)
-Install a quiet antivirus and a quiet firewall (NOD32, Komodo)
-Install VNC for remote desktop assistance for troubleshooting.
- Make a shortcut folder for storing all the permanent data in another partition, everithing that wants to be stored must go there.
-Once the system is configured as desired, make a ghost image that can be easily restored inserting a CD.
The best monitor for seniors is, IMO, a 27" or 32" 720p HDTV set. It avoids changing Windows' default sizes, which I've seen cause problems with some programs. Connecting via VGA cable is acceptable, but using a HDMI-to-DVI cable with a video card that has a DVI output will give somewhat better output.
Actually the modern UBUNTU desktop is damm-near bullet-proof for anyone. It auto_installs, auto_configures, auto_Webs and auto_updates. All-the-basics come with the std. package. Given generic semi-modern hardware kit, Ubuntu enables Joe_lusr to lap-da-graavy. Even some modest "upward mobility" tasks have a shallow learning-curve; this encourages and enables greater lusr proficiency and is no-small-part of modern Ubuntus usefulness. Sure let-the-ol'-farts try Ubuntu ... they prolly will love it!
This way when they turn off the PC, it will simply revert to the same way you set it up, regardless of what stupidity they do.
Here's a link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Or at least create a admin account with a password that you enter.
This is a very recent lesson learned (yesterday).
I just did this for my elderly neighbor and he was having difficulty entering the password twice the same during initial configuration.
After several tries it accepted his entry. The only problem is that he fat-fingered twice the same way. Statistically unlikely... yes but he did it. I could not believe it. :(
Now does any know if any good password cracking software? I need to go over and Christmas day and get his computer working again.
On a sensible UNIX system, / is a small partition containing /bin, /lib, /sbin, and a few other things - just enough to boot in single user mode. It can be mounted read-only except during major updates.
In summary, / can be read-only, /usr and /usr/local can almost always be read only, but /var and /home need to be writeable. If you want a really safe system, but a skeleton /usr and /usr/local on / and do a union mount over the top. If you mess up an install, just remove the top layer and start again.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I used an old shuttle box (running XP) for my parent's machine. This way when things go south as they tend to do about once a year, they unplug the color-coded wires and bring me just the box. I even gave them a padded carry case for the flight.
They live out of state and their connection prevents remote-desktop. This is the next best thing while still being cheaper than a laptop. They travel here several times a year anyway.
Once in hand, I can clean up/defrag/check all updates/etc., and refresh the acronis image.
Still, switching over to Linux is an option I am seriously considering.
My mother-in-law always tries to press the F2 key after turning on her computer because it says to... What it really says is "Press F2 to run setup". When she is fast enough and gets into the system setup menu; she calls me and says her computer is broke (again). Problem solved when I upgraded her PC. I set the new mainboard to not display bootup messages and show a full screen splash image. My brother-in-law threatened to break her finger if she touched F2 again; that also helped but I don't have the heart for that approach. She has had XP for 5 years and it works great. Compatibility is more important to her than being leet and running linux; we use Ad-Aware, AVG, Thunderbird, and Firefox. I ensure she has the proper browser plugins and disable auto-update on the third party software so nothing changes when I am not there (I do let Windows and AVG get updates).
No, really..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's about time they made 20" LCD's with a 1280x1024 resolution for people over the age of 40 who use it as a tool and not a hobby.
This is some smart thinking. As much as I'd like to have a one of those 24" NEC monitors that's optimized for photographers (I used to be a photographer and am very critical about displays for photographs. Everything I can afford sucks.), my ideal would be a three-monitor setup: one for photos, one for dual-use gaming and productivity apps, and one as you describe just for getting my work done. I'd prefer they all be 24-inchers, though.
There are lots of 19-inch monitors with 1280x1024 native resolution. Check pricewatch.com to find lots of really cheap refurbs. Newegg has plenty of new ones.
The Ubuntu Netbook Remix launcher has a pretty sweet large icons UI.
Any ideas on how to get those dang young buggy beta applications off my lawn, err, desktop?
When I set my parents up I had purchased a program that would fully restore the system on every boot. They could save files in the 'My Documents' folder but anything else they did was wiped clean. They could even do a format C. It was nice because no matter what they did all they needed to do was restart the computer to restore it back to what was 'normal' for them. Every visit I unlocked the system and updated everything and then locked it down again. Not too bad but they only accessed the internet via a dial-up. I think some of the newer programs that will 'refresh on restart' can be configured to automatically apply the windows and virus updated.
My Sig indicates the end of the comment I posted.
The responses so far read like this:
My grandfather needs a wrench to fix his car. What should I tell him?
1. Take it to the dealer to fix.
2. Get a new car.
3. Use Snap-On wrenches; everything else is inferior.
4. Use a wrench from a yard sale, but make sure to grind off any rough edges and polish the handle.
5. You don't know how to use a wrench! You are doomed to failure!
First, you should determine as best you can what they want to do with the computer, then match the OS selection to what they can afford and what you can support that will let them do what they want.
But since we don't know that yet.
A. If money is tight, Linux on existing hardware would be a better choice.
B. If money is no object, get a Mac.
C. The price you pay for the "just works" of Windows is that it has a limit to configurability and security, software to make it work better can be expen$ive, it is easy for neophytes to screw up and time-consuming to fix. That's my experience over the past 12 years anyway.
If you go with A or B, take some time to watch as they use the computer, noting problems they have and think about how you can configure to to make it easier, better and safer for them.
If you must go with C, I suggest running WinXP with Win4Lin Pro or VirtualBox (not the FOSS edition) so that you can use Linux goodness to admin the box, re-install from a pristine image of XP and act a repository for backups of personal data. Best of both worlds.
Oh, and print out guidelines to help them avoid spam and scams, no giving out personal info, don't install any software from the Internet themselves, etc. Make sure everything they want to do works and all their peripherals work (tell them to take you if they want to buy new ones).
I am one of those seniors and have been a Linux user for 9 years. I live in a retirement resort and teach Linux to those that are interested. We have 58 full time Linux users and it is extremely rare that I get a yell for help. However those still suffering along with the Millennium Edition on a 386 that there kids gave them when they upgraded, are constantly on the phone with me. 48 of the 58 are using Linux Mint the remainder are using Ubuntu. You might want to stop thinking of them as seniors and start thinking of them as captives of a lousy OS.
For you folks that do decide to set your relative up with Linux, consider giving yourselves remote access with NX and leaving port 22 on your router/firewall open to point to their machine. That should let you troubleshoot just about everything except hardware and network problems.
I would recommend creating a custom XP install disc using nLite. With nLite you can pick and choose which components of Windows you want to be installed. You can also add patches, service packs, drivers, accessibility options, and custom programs to be included in the DVD like Firefox and AVG.
This is what I've done for my grandmother. After creating a disk that comes with all the software she'll need, all the drivers, I've got a restore disk that I can just throw in the drive if it ever needs a reformat, and it's an unattended install.
I keep a copy of the nLite image I used for her on my local machine, so for this christmas, I'll load it back up with some updated patches, and throw it in her DVD drive when I get there (after backing her bookmarks up on a USB drive of course).
nLite has a learning curve, but it is small. I would recommend trying a VPC install once or twice before getting your disc "set".
No matter what the setup is, some education will be required for someone completely new to computers to be comfortable. They will need to sit down with someone knowledgeable and patient to help them get comfortable, and it is quite possible that you are the wrong person for the job.
Computer people tend to be introverts. This means that someone with computer and people skills combined is a bit rare. Unless helping train new users is something you have done for a living, you will find that it isn't terribly easy to do. Computer experts have a tendency to have many blind spots when it comes to basic skills, and make assumptions about what people already know, and what is intuitive. When was the last time you had to explain to someone the difference between what the left and right mouse button do?
After you get the system configured, I recommend that you help them find what resources are available to aid them. Check your local Senior Center. New computer use among seniors will not be a new problem to them, and they will likely have classes, and perhaps a number for a reasonably priced in-home tutor.
As for setting them up with an XP system, here is what I generally do:
Fresh install of Windows, fully patched and updated.
Install Firefox, AVG, Foxit, Picasa, OpenOffice (set OO to save all files as the MS Office standard), Flash, Shockwave, iTunes, VLC, Spybot (run immunization), Malwarebytes Antimalware.
Set up a Gmail account for them.
Create desktop shortcuts for MBAM, Gmail, OpenOffice Writer, Picasa, My Documents, and My Pictures.
If this is for a relative that I will be personally supporting, Make certain that some form of remote support is set up and easy to access. Remote Desktop for XP Pro, VNC otherwise.
Topics I'd be sure to cover with them if I were sitting down to help them:
Using the mouse, what is a browser, how to use email, how to search the internet, how to use Picasa, the very basics of computer security (run a monthly scan with MBAM, call me if AVG or MBAM has a problem that won't go away), starting up and shutting down.
If you are helping them use a machine for the first time, put *them* in the driver's seat! It is much more comforting to have someone with you when you first get started. This way, they are doing it themselves, but you are right there if they get lost, or have any trouble.
Also changed the path directory of My Documents to the D:\
Apparently big blocky fonts are easier for seniors to see than big smooth fonts.
Not necessarily; it's not that simple. As an old guy with crappy eyes, I can tell you. Your Mom is not dumb, and probably has a good esthetic sense. Anything more than a very minor amount of font scaling in Windows just looks ugly and stupid. The scaling is not entirely consistent, and does not apply at all to other graphical elements. Caveat: I haven't tried Vista, but I don't consider that a viable choice for other reasons.
The bitmaps don't scale, which is understandable but results in real problems. Less forgivable is the fact that things like scrollbars and title bars don't scale. You end up with things like a ludicrously tiny scroll bar with elements you can barely hit with a mouse, and ludicrously thin title bar within which the system is trying to display nice large text which won't fit.
Dialog boxes become an insuperable problem. The nice large text gets clipped by the stupid box, or by the size of the text design element within the box.
Try setting up XP with readable text on a 15.4" 1920x1200 display sometime.
By design, Windows is not truly display independent or size preference adaptable. It never claimed to be, really.
When my grandfather got really old, we changed his favorite icon's name to "Click here and press enter."
Whats all this "Linux" or "Windows" talk? I say just set up an empty cardboard box with a picture of you and a piece of paper that says 'No Email' Tada!
There is a product called Premier Accessibility Suite that could greatly enhance your parents use of the PC. Other than that I suggest you install two disks one for data the other for applications and give them a restore CD and crossloop which works as a excellent remote tool or perhaps sysaid could also be of use as it will log system inventory changes for you. Premier is a commercial program and I do not remember the cost but sysaid and crossloop are open source.
Put it up in one part of the screen and put the most-commonly used apps on it. Easy-peasy.
anata sekai o kakumei surush ga nai deshou? Anata no susumu michi wa yoi shite arimasu.
I just bought by 75yo stepdad a Apple Mac Mini 1.8GHz - it was an upgrade from a Dell P4 XP which failed constantly at anything but running spyware.
An alternative is probably gOS or Mint.
I still stay ditch PC and go Apple.
The support cycle for Windows XP SP2 ends on 2010, so it probably isn't the best investment to buy it now... unfortunately. MS may extend it past 2010, but who knows.
Vista Home runs $99, though IMO the interface is a bit too confusing for older folks, especially with the constant nag of "Are you sure you want to do xyz?!?"
Linux is free of course, Ubuntu is decent and easy to install, you may consider Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long Term Support). The support cycle ends in 2011, which is considerably longer than many (most?) other distributions.
Maybe just get them an iMac, the current refurbs will cost you about $1000 or get one of Craigslist/eBay/etc. Just set it up and leave it alone. In general Apple hardware resells a higher value than any comparable PC hardware, so if you eventually need to upgrade them you can get a bit of money back from your initial investment. Setup TimeMachine to automatically backup and you're good to go. As with linux, you can install OpenOffice and many other open source tools.
it's a sig, wtf?
Just loaded up Puppy Linux for the kids and it is fast and very menu driven with everything you need - Web, Email, Chat.....
Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
My grandmother can't use a mouse due to her severe arthritis. But a Logitech Trackball is just the ticket.
Why Windows? They don't have any preference. Make it a Simple Linux box and don't worry about having it break, or not do what you set it up to do.
B-)
A friend will come and bail you out of jail, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn that was fun!"
Having volunteered at a major "Assisted-Living" facility in the past, I've seen some of the software they use for the residents. There was one in particular that seemed to work very well, albeit it didn't have many options in terms of customization, it got the job done. It was a GUI overlay/app suite for windows, all the icons/fonts were huge, and everything was fairly accessible. It included a word processing app, email, web browsing, etc. It also had a section for games which linked to several flash games, but nothing special. I trained about 10 or so residents how to use it, all of which had little or no previous PC-usage experience. Afaik, after a good 6 months it was still up and running with no problems at all. Sadly, I can't remember the name of such software since it's been several years now...but it does exist. If anyone were really interested, I could call and ask for the name...but with this comment being so buried, no one is probably going to care :p
Must you continue to advocate Mac use? I enjoy having a malware free system, and people might catch on... After all Macs' best protection is lack of market share
So many comments and nobody thinks this was satire? Not one single funny mod? I was laughing through the entire post and can't imagine the parent was serious. I could be wrong, but this reads like a geek version of an SNL skit.
Programmers in mirror are brighter than they appear
I tried putting my father on Ubuntu this past summer, with miserable results.
-- Importing his mail (since he did not want to lose it) was troublesome. I've talked about e-mail bankruptcy with him, but I don't think he's ready to do it deliberately.
-- ITunes. Damn ITunes and its DRMed music, he can't play it in Ubuntu. That makes it a failure in his eyes, as playing his music is one of the only things he DOES on the computer (besides e-mail and web surfing). (I've since learned more about drm-stripping tools, but they need to be run from Windows... which was screwed up on his system.) I've been unable to convince him that paying $800+ to upgrade his entire collection (at 30 cents per song) to the DRM-free versions of the songs.
-- There wasn't really a way I could get ITunes to run on Ubuntu. Yes, I expect that one could do it with Wine.. but there's no out-of-the box easy way to set that up. It'd be fantastic to say, "Hey, install Wine, and now lets go install some commonly used apps that you probably want". (I realize this would be a configuration and licensing nightmare, hehe, but it'd make the process easier.)
-- In the end, it was easier to say "fuck it", delete the Linux partition, and just install a brand new copy of XP. I felt dirty doing it, and it pissed me off to no end ("Yeah now you have to install drivers... yes, go to this web page on your laptop...") that there were so many minor pains in the ass along the way. Couple this with my father needing/wanting to be hand-held the entire time, and I was at a very very high frustration level.
NEXT time his computer shoots craps? Sure, I might have him install Ubuntu. I am skeptical that it will be any less frustrating than installing windows was (we just did that this past week), except for the excellent driver support that Linux has. (I don't mean that sarcastically, either.)
The biggest hurdle, though, is his "But I don't want to learn anything new! this works fine!" mentality. It's why he keeps wanting to use Outlook, for example. How can I counter this, fight this, or convince him otherwise? I don't know how to use Amarok or any of the Linux music library management software, nor do I know of good ITunes Store alternatives (I know they exist, but I don't listen to music much). At least with Thunderbird my argument can be, "I use it, so I can help you use it". I want to tell him "buy a Mac", but it's not really something he can afford. :( It worked great for my mother, but my dad is just unwilling to step out of his shell a tiny bit and LEARN something different.
I apologize for venting my frustration. Still, I'd really LIKE to see my father using a Linux system, with a nifty interface and all that jazz, but I've had such a rough time the last time I tried it that I don't think I'll be successful next time I get the chance. I'm hopeful that some of you will have insightful advice on how I can do it better next time. :)
As a senior citizen, I feel we should protect the delicate sensibilities of younger people by not exposing them to the fact that we have a brain that has already adapted to greater levels of change than they can even fathom. You lump us all together as a contigous group of helpless idiots. Thank you for such a pointlessly ageist attitude. Have you ever had to use an outhouse as a daily part of life, or prepare your own wild game, or take a bath with water you heated yourself on a wood cooking stove in the kitchen? I'll shut my obviously maladapted mouth now and go back to downloading torrents, using a VOIP phone, watching Hulu, and listening to internet radio.
... or would like to actually use all of his disk space efficiently and maintain performance.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
You do realize that you guys have now proposed almost as many minute reconfigurations to your Linux install as the Windows expert you criticized?
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Are you building a computer that'll be used by many people, or a computer for just one person? An individual's computer has to to persist user data and configuration for months or years, which means you have to configure the OS rather robustly and defensively, because while some of the age 70+ newbies I've dealt with are super-sharp, the rest have been too trusting of the computer and the Internet it connects them to. They go online and click on every ad, every popup, every possible anything. Next thing you know they've volunteered their system into every botnet under the sun and can't figure out why their Yahoo! bridge game is crashing and there's all these naked ladies popping up out of nowhere.
For computers owned by individuals, my recommendation is to sandbox things as well as possible. Get a firewalling router, a software firewall, and aggressive virus scanning and trojan detection. Give them Firefox, install or subscribe to a phishing/scam detection system. Get them a Gmail account. If they've never been exposed to Windows, consider Ubuntu or a Mac. But please respect their ability to learn while allowing for the possibility for mistakes. Same as any newbie-friendly environment.
For computers in the rec room, you can protect them from viruses and trojan damage very simply: Every night at 2:00 AM the computer reboots and reinstalls a clean OS image from a master copy somewhere. I don't know how good Windows is at this, but under Linux it's trivial: Set up a VM (even a Windows VM!), and cron a job that kills the VM, overwrites the image file, then starts the VM (maybe in full-screen mode?). You still want a firewall etc, but the scope of most newbie-inflicted damage will be the rest of the day, not the rest of the system's operational lifetime.
This is not my sandwich.
Seriously, people who don't have significant expertise, should not be using Windows connected to the Internet. Your senior citizen is pretty much guaranteed to lose, unless they either stay off the 'net or get some pretty intensive training.
Computer dorks don't normally think this training is necessary, because the idea that downloading and executing malware is a bad idea, seems like common sense. But the world has shown that it's not common sense. So if someone is going to be on the 'net and not get educated, they should be using a platform that doesn't go out of its way to be unsafe (e.g. downloaded files do not automatically have execute permission, etc). Even a 10-year-old Linux distribution is going to be more user-friendly.
So, to answer your question: configure Windows for a computer-newbie (someone who is both untrained and not legacy-app-bound) on the internet (you mentioned email and web), by uninstalling Windows. Some people are rolling their eyes and mumbling that this is a sarcastic "solution" but it's really not. This is the best and most cost-effective and most practical thing you can do.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
On another thread, I heard something like this. I went with ubtuntu for its additional "shrinkwrapping", but then someone told me there's Non-FreeSoftware repositories so if I (gasp) want to play a codec or some non-free mp3 player I could.
I am going into this *expecting* glitches, aka the "best possible newbie". I would just prefer the glitches to be properly recognized.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
"For old people, it is difficult to click button on mouse but do not move it." It took me a while to notice this when my mom uses her computer. I had been supporting her remotely using VNC, and couldn't figure out why her windows were resized to be small. When I visited her in person, I saw that she was trying to close a window, but when she click the mouse button, she also move the mouse over to a border, held the mouse down, and ended up reszing the window. Solution: - configure larger window decorations (scroll bars, close buttons.) - configure larger window borders.
Not a Dell 30" with 2500x1600 (whatever), but one of those 27" 720P LCD TVs with 1336x900 (whatever) resolution. Then set the DPI to 120. The size is fantastic for those old eyes and the fuzzys are gone 'cause you're running at native resolution. A nice crisp and huge display. My Dad plays solitaire a bunch and the cards are almost full size on the screen.
It's a bit more expensive than your typical el-cheapo Hung-Lo 19" LCD but will make the computing experience tolerable, if not pleasurable.
Am I the only one that has somewhat competent and intelligent grandparents? This isn't an age thing as much as it is a smart/dumb thing. Young dumb people grow up to be old dumb people and vice-versa. My 80 year old grandfather is a recently retired law professor and he does just fine with computers, because, surprise, he's intelligent.
There was no button that actually said Hardy. I happened to see a note about that on a webpage when I actually tried to do some homework. The button actually kept saying "Go to Edgy". Dazed and lost, I tried what felt natural, "let's go set the repositories". Still no luck. The overall message was that with only three Userland items involved it exploded.
I actually tried to manually add some stuff back in the command line with apt-get, but that was after the cause was already lost.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Nothing teaches the olds to use a mouse like solitaire. Seriously.
AMEN! My grandparents asked what computer to buy in 95/96. I suggested a mac, since I could walk them through about anything over the phone....
They bought a gateway... with win95 and my grandfather got to know most of the gateway support staff by name over the next few years.
Later, they were ready to buy another machine... So they again asked what to buy. Again, I suggested a mac, since again, I could troubleshoot just about anything over the phone, and set up a 2nd clean partition to emergency boot from without difficulty. (hold option key of course)
Again, they bought another gateway..... again they got to know the gateway support people by name.
Now the REST of the family has ALL switched to mac. Except my grandparents, who are on their fourth gateway. Who still seem to know all the gateway tech support people by name.
I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out that they're all on the xmas card mailing list.....
I've found that everytime they want a suggestion, I suggest a mac... and everytime they save a couple hundred bucks by buying a gateway, and end up paying FAR more when you count all the tech support, etc.
The ONE major plus side, is I don't have to support it. Every year at xmas time... I go through and out of curiosity look at all the malware, spyware, viruses, etc on their gateway. And every year, it gets worse and worse. But thats their deal.... I don't support it, Won't support it.
I figure not supporting their gateways has saved me 2-4 hours a week for the last 10+ years now. Maybe next time they buy a new computer they'll listen, but I doubt it.
If they are to use a Windoze machine, install Firefox and a safe mail program like Eudora or Thunderbird, then hide IE and Outlook from them.
If you give them a unified IM client (like GAIM/Pidgin) with a simple interface, you can chat with them every day and help them real time and I bet they will enjoy your presence. An ICQ account means they can send you a message even if you are offline.
My in-laws are in their 60's now. Technically senior citizens, but on the low end of the age range. Still, they are complete PC novices. My own mother is 68 now, but she is moderately competent with PCs because she used to work in an office as an executive assistant; so, the most she ever asks me to do is hardware installations, mostly involving her TV or game console (yes, my mom has a Wii).
;-)
I've been maintaining their XP Home Edition PC for several years now. They run it so each of them has an account (2 parents, 3 children and my own account). 2 of their kids have since moved out and their accounts are idle, but one has managed to stick around well into her 30s. Ah, but that's another story.
Older people appreciate larger viewability. The best advice I ever gave them was to buy a larger monitor, NOT to increase the font or icon sizes and run at 640x480 resolution. They now have a 24" widescreen monitor, and it works well for them at 1152x720. At the higher resolution, they have enough space to use today's programs, and with the larger monitor, they can see it all better. BTW, running at a lower resolution can actually make things worse. For example, if they open up a document and want to view the whole width of it on screen, it will reduce the font into near nothingness to fit it all into the tiny area. Increasing Window's Font or Icon sizes are another tricky matter. Some programs don't know how to deal with larger system font sizes (because they make a bad assumption that the default font size is the only size) and the words will "spill out" of their boundaries, making it look horrible at least or make it so you can't click on something at worst. There's also the problem of dialog boxes that are too big to fit on a tiny resolution desktop. I've had incidents (too many to count) where a program's dialog box is larger than 640x480 and I can't click on its buttons or move it (i.e. I get trapped).
What concerns me most is both security and remote administration (I live 3 states away and visit only 2-3 times per year). The first thing I did was install AVG and set it up to auto-update and auto-scan at some late night hour. I also installed Spybot S&D, CCleaner (very nice for cleaning up Window's & IE's temporary folders), and TweakUI. I also have AdAware, Process Explorer, Trojan Remover, Security Task Manager, TuneXP and Tweak And Tune handy, just in case. I recently added a router to their setup, so now they have a hardware-based firewall (and it added the ability for me to connect my laptop when I visit).
If it were Vista (which I highly doubt that they'll ever get), I would heavily encourage TweakVI to make it bearable.
Now, onto remote administration. There are 3 main things I did for this. First & foremost, I installed Cygwin with OpenSSH (and many other tools). This allows me to ssh login or to do scp file copying. I also use rsync tunneled through ssh for data file backups (both directions--I use their PC to backup my files and vice versa). Most importantly, it allows me to use tunneling to open ports through ssh, so I don't have to poke many holes in their router's firewall. Second, I installed Real VNC to be able to remotely control their desktop from a distance. Lastly, I "tweaked" (a small hack) to get Remote Desktop working. I must say Remote Desktop is the best tool available for remote Windows administration. It's too bad I had to hack things to get it working. For VNC and RD both I use SSH Port Forwards to use them. The only port open through their router is 22 and everything I do is encrypted. One example, you setup local port 113389 to forward to their internal IP port 3389. Once I establish my SSH session, I can then use Remote Desktop client to connect to localhost:113389 and voila, I'm in. There are many things in Windows that require a GUI (running CCleaner, Spybot, etc; installing/updating apps, etc.). It's been essential for me to tunnel in and to get a GUI through VNC o
no toolbar stuff, no harmfull websites as google blocks it, no crappy add-ons
"Violence is the last refuge of the competent, and, generally, the first refuge of the incompetent" - Thing_1
The newer LCD monitors that are usable, have higher pixel density, and thus everything will look too small.... The cheaper LCD HDTV's work well though, like a 26-30 inch 720P model... lot of them run at 1366x768
OR throw a MONSTER CRT on the desk. I've got a nice collection of great professional grade used CRT's: LaCie's, Viewsonics, IBM, etc for less than $50 each.
Check your local computer recycling center or used computer store. Schools that are upgrading and auction or sell their old hardware cheap once or twice a year are also great places to look.
With the giant CRT, you can set any resolution you want, and it'll always look great. The other advantage to a decent giant CRT, is you can gamma correct them and force them to oversaturate the colors if needed if his eyesight gets even worse. It will also give you smaller resolution steps that a lot of LCD's don't support.
XP:
I was supporting a friend's parents' machine for about 4 years a while ago. Initially I loaded XP for them, using Eudora as mail client and IE as the browser. The problems I had with this was that they would get a virus about once a month... and they did try to be careful. I eventually tried some anti-virus applications (extra cost!) but this only got them more confused and slowed down their machine. From a UI point of view it was pretty good. Also it supported multi-users quite well. After the 2nd crash (machine not shut down correctly, etc) the registry hive file was totally trashed this time and not even a restore from any of the two backup files helped, I decided to take the plunge and give them Linux.
Linux:
I picked Xandros here (at the time it was the most user friendly) I personally used Suse, Debian, RedHat and Mandrake (so I know my GNU/Linux). It all went well for some time. At least the machine did not crash and we had zero virus problems. Alas however, the multi-user switching was slow and clunky, and the file permissions (they wanted to share some stuff between the mom and dad) was a royal pain (it was workable, I know how to set up s-bits etc, but it was still a pain). Then there was the problem that the dad's favorite windows Golf game (although it worked), did not work well, but this is not really a big issue. Another issue was that the word processor (OpenOffice) had a very limited clipart selection, and the mail application was not as cool. And lastly, a MAJOR problem was the lack of a system-wide way of setting the default font's larger... every, single, application, had a different way of setting this, and some application you just could not change certain font sizes... even when setting the DPI under X11 differently did not have the desired effect... it was just terrible! One thing I have to say... they DID need my help much less, and was happier with it than with windows! lol
(Using Firefox and Thunderbird)
Mac Mini
Then I bought myself a tiny Macbook G3... and I was SO impressed with it. It did it ALL perfectly. (Even had a nice Golf Game! lol). Clipart, good UI, good fast user switching, snappy, nice apps, good font visibility. It had it all. But unlike the other solutions it came at a price. But considering they insisted on paying me a small amount (they felt they needed to do this to ensure my continued help and dedication... lol!) this was not really such a big issue. That was about 3 years ago now...
(Using Firefox and Mail.app)
So:
So in conclusion, XP for 1 year... Linux for another, and the rest Mac.
For myself I stick with all 3 variants at home. But I will never recommend Linux or XP to any elderly person or computer-Luddite. A Mac works like an appliance. you don't even know it's there. The thing I have to add is that old does not imply they are incapable. They just don't see the need to struggle with equipment. They actually tought me a thing or two about Linux and Windows. :P
an outdated console interaction doesn't mean it's built for grannies
"Violence is the last refuge of the competent, and, generally, the first refuge of the incompetent" - Thing_1
You know, that bothers me.
I can deal with all the app-side funniness about Evil M$ and their days of active x lockdowns, such & such games don't work, etc. I know users aren't supposed to do "weird junk in advanced modes". Windows users stay out of the registry. Linux Newbies stay out of the command line.
But if the OS can't even update itself with the publicly available button so Mr. User can run Firefox 3, that's what says worlds about Linux not being On The Desktop.
I really am being as generous as I can. I have extremely limited requirements of what I shall ask my penguin. I randomly picked ubuntu ... "just because". But I may have a new criteria for a distro now: how TRULY Freak-Proof it is. "They say there's a lot of distros out there. They can't all be that unlucky".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I posted a sibling reply sideways to your note. To you I'll repeat that reinstalling offends me to no limit. It's NOT necessarily easier than Windows, because my friend put the original Dapper install on and had to break out the Skillz to get it to behave.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
My mother always used to call me when her Windows crapped out. Win 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP. I kept offering to set her up with a MAc or Linux-based machine but Noooooooo... she wanted to stick with Windows. Funny how everytime she called asking "How do I fix this?" I would answer with a description of the problem and how to solve it. Invariably she would say "Noooooo. That can't be it." Then WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME? So, I'm saying the correct answer is to set them up with Linux. Ubuntu seems good. Anything but Windows. And in my case it doesn't matter because the whole experience made me swear off computers and answering my phone.
I have a couple of Windows partitions that I boot into rarely and use only for the occasional browser compatibility testing and they deteriorate and break. I also had a Windows Media Center PC that I didn't use for anything else and after 9 months of updates, wouldn't receive TV anymore and had lots of other problems. Yes, Windows really does literally break by itself.
I installed Windows for one senior citizen, and he moved the mouse to the other side of the desk. Laughter ensued.
"You need to change the buttons on your mouse. Go to the Start Menu and click on the other button. No, the other button. THE OTHER BUTTON!"
There is a reason why Macs only have a single button on their mouse by default.
I would prefer Linux just because it is easier for me to set it up to log in remotely and add that new printer or fix an error than trying to take control of the desktop remotely. Yes, you can use all sorts of services on Windows like Logmein or Windows Remote Access, but it is just easier when the OS was designed to allow you to do this in the first place.
You can setup Ubuntu to automatically do updates on a daily basis. The user never needs to know. You can create a panel and add the icons for the most commonly used programs which makes access a lot easier than finding them through the Start Menu. I place the Ubuntu main menu on the bottom left corner just like the Windows Start Menu, and I can set it up to limit what a particular user can see.
The only problem I have is when someone asks me to install a particular program which is Windows only, and I can't.
Whether they're seniors, or some other group of somewhat inexperienced users, put together (or purchase, or download) a book or booklet with some basic information. PC's for Dummies or an Idiot's Guide used to be good for this. Tell them if they cannot master some of these basics, they have no business being anywhere near a computer.
Otherwise you will put up with the following types of interactions:
I can't see the picture of my granddaughter that was emailed to me?
What format is it in, jpeg?
I don't know?
What program were you trying to use to view the picture?
I don't know? Before I just clicked on it and it appeared. But now it's gone
Did you click on it in the email program, a web browser, a file browser?
I don't know? What's a web browser?
Like Internet Explorer, or Firefox?
Oh, I don't know. How do I know which one I'm using? This is all too complicated. Can't you just fix it for me?
Macintosh is your friend.
Microsoft has a product you can download for free called Windows SteadyState. Here is the URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/ This tool works. It is a bit of a pain to set up, but not too much extra work. The PC can be set to act like a diskless PC and hence no real harm gets done when people try to change things or go to sites that are not totally safe. You will have to manage the anti-virus manually via remote login, or decide not to uese the most hardened settings. This may or may not be what you want, but it does make it easier to set up a system people can use for basic tasks (they need to know to keep data on a flash drive), and have some security that it won't get messed up by users you can't control very well. At least the price is right! I have to say, I also would rather give someone a Mac, but many people know and want XP or another MS OS. Either way, be sure to have a remote access tool installed so you can manage the box via the net. Good Luck!
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?
Because getting a clean Windows install isn't usually the hardest part (if it is, you're really screwed), installing and configuring all the software is.
And the last time I did Upgrade Version on Ubuntu, it took an hour just to download the new files.
Typical apples-to-oranges comparisons.
He wasn't talking about upgrades, he was talking about reinstalls. Time to reinstall on Ubuntu because of bitrot is zero because, unlike Windows systems, Ubuntu systems don't deteriorate with use. Even if they did, you could fix it by simple telling the system to reinstall packages.
(And how long does it take to obtain Windows for an upgrade? It takes longer, because it's a bigger download or you have to go to the store. Furthermore, even with download, the Ubuntu upgrade requires almost no user interaction, and the OS upgrade also upgrades all the applications.)
but it just irks me how much GNU/Linux people bend the truth when pushing their agenda
I know what you mean: it irks me how much Windows people bend the truth when pushing their agenda. You know, like you just did again. Windows is being kept alive by lies and fanbois.
Clean XP/Vista Load,
Setup your admin account
Get printers/office/drivers updates ect
Install your fav winvnc software (ultra vnc, gotomypc ect)
Test machine, ect
Install Windows SteadyState >>> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx
create new user account for user
setup account walk user though account, save settings
use Windows SteadyState to lock down new account
make ghost/XML drive image(s) of machine
your done!
this is also great for Hotels and Public Terminals!!!
The Mac has many of the same annoying misfeatures that Windows has, including software that pops up annoying "I need to be updated" dialogs and inconsistent interfaces among third party applications.
Apple's revenue-enhancing policies make that even worse, like the fact that network backups are only easy to their service and their hardware.
And unless you're actually a Mac user yourself and know all the tricks and utilities already, maintaining a Mac for a parent is a lot of work.
I've done both, and Ubuntu is both easier to use and easier to support than OS X. OS X is still a better choice than Windows.
I'm not old (39), nor do I wear glasses, but I don't get all the complaints about high resolutions by old people or people with bad vision. If you wear glasses, doesn't that fix your vision problems? Do glasses not work on pixels?
Why not? Zero IT problems, no viruses. Gets the job done, it Just Works. Better than all that messing around with DOS and Windows 9x.
Odd, the upgrade manager just popped up for me and said that there was a new LTS version, Hardy, and there was an upgrade button next to it. I just hit that and it upgraded straight to Hardy.
How could Microsoft with all their resources fail so miserable with XP and especially Vista? It's a mystery to me. No matter what they do they just can't shed the old baggage from Windows and move on. They need to kill every part of the Win XP and Vista code base, and destroy every remnant of their pre-existing thinking or they will die. It will take many years but they will die unless they do this. They are still stuck with device letters, DLLs and all that junk. They should KILL IT as soon is humanly possible and move on! They should also fire Steve Ballmer right now. The man is a disaster for Microsoft. Meanwhile I am happily using a different operating system that actually works as advertised and is fun to use. I really don't have to care one flying fart about Microsoft. :)
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
Unless they're visiting shady porn sites, installing loads of "freeware" or downloading from peer-to-peer networks, they're very unlikely to even encounter a virus.
...or so I've heard. ;-)
Commenting in general to several posters...
My in-laws have been using the PCs that I've configured for them since the 486 days, and I've never had to take away Admin, IE or Outlook from them. If anything, they're safer computer users with Admin than any of us are, because they don't exhibit any risky user behavior. They don't go around installing loads of apps and going to the dark corners of the web.
I don't have the option to tell my in-laws to re-install their OS. They bought the PC pre-installed with Windows, they're happy with the applications it came with, and they're content to leave it as is. If I suggest otherwise, I know I'll be turned down.
So, I choose to make the best of what there is. I use Cygwin to add Linux-like functionality to Windows, for my administrative purposes, I add security software to scan in the background and to aid me in troubleshooting, and I tweak the settings as best I know how to improve their overall experience, without sacrificing security or usability.
I think it's more productive to discuss how to use and secure Windows to stay on topic, rather than switching gears completely.
I've been fairly successfull telling my mom Personal Computers are only a fad. She wants a VHS for Christmas instead.
Four things you need with a windows machine once you set it up. 1. Admin/Non Admin account. Set this up. Teach your user why and when to use said accounts. XP makes you log out/log back in to use these accounts. (yes you can elevate with the "runas" command, but this does not always work) Vista lets your elevate your account with the right credentials without having to logout. The way MAC does and Linux does. Never turn off UAC. You are asking for it if you do. Its like running root and then surfing the web cause you TRUST every single website you go to... 2. Updates. Go get them all. If office is on the machine, Install the OS, Install Office, then go get Microsoft Update, not Windows Update. Set to automatic. Unless this is a server, or a machine with a $4,000 piece of software, the updates that microsoft puts out will very rarely (%.01) hose your machine. 3. Install some type of Antivirus. Stay away from the "Complete" packages, with firewall/web protector/sypware checker. Just install the Antivirus package of Norton, Symantec,Sophos, whatever floats your boat. Windows does have a firewall built in. This, in tandem with a router does the job. 4. Don't install software you didn't pay for/ or there is evidence that millions of other people using it with boards that will help fix your problem should you encounter one. Don't install file sharing software on your computer. I am all about the drm-free music and videos being shared and all, however, I am not about how your machine can be affected while having this type of software installed on your machine. You become a node/server with holes poked in your software firewall.. This is not designed to be a Pro Windows/Anti Mac/Anti Linux response. Simply an IT professional whose clients use Windows and whom I don't want to have coming back to me time and time again because they aren't educated. Explain to your users these four steps and why they need to take them. -Aedon
Personally I have never, and I mean never seen a senior citizen use a resolution higher than 800x600
"We multitask like you breath, I couldn't think as slow as you if I tried"
They actually tought me a thing or two about Linux and Windows. :P
But not how to use the spell-checker :)
I've been configuring PC's for senior citizens and it's just not working out. I've got a whole basement full of senior citizens that I really have no use for. Sure, I've got some of the better ones making quilts and stuff, but really the next time someone offers me a senior citizen to configure their computer I'm just going to pass.
I haven't looked into these guys a whole lot, but ran across them a while back and it might be somewhat up your alley.... http://www.simplec.com/index.html
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me
A TV show in Canada called Dragons' Den had a couple of young fellers that had developed an interface specifically for senior users.
I help a few seniors in our town with their computers. They do like to have someone physically present to show them how to do new things. Recommend you find out if your senior has a neighbour who can help and go with the OS he or she is familiar with. Everyone uses Windows in this town. My experience is that seniors have no trouble with malware and a virus checker is probably unnecessary. I don't encourage banking on line. Use solitaire to learn mouse use. Forums like Worldwide Seniors and 50Plus are great if the senior can type at all.
Get a mac, turn on parental control and the old geezers won't fudge up the computer, get an external harddrive, turn on Time Machine in Leopard for backups every hour. Now, should your folks manage to wreck the system, just reinstall from backup, it's a no bainer.
So a mac is the ultimate answer huh? There are people out there who shouldn't ever touch a computer, and macs aren't gonna save them. I do some volunteer tech work and every few weeks I get a call about "my email disappeared again, it was there but now it's gone. I don't know what happened." Almost every time I find she's thrown it in the trash, or randomly changed all her account settings. Some people just click on things without knowing anything about how they work. Some people just need constant attention and help, and the best thing to do is give them an OS you like working with... because you will, a lot.
I am home sitting at my mom's computer now! LOL It is working fine. However, I too have had to implement some strategies to help her and my grandmother have an operational computer. First of all they have an old PC, PIII/800Mhz with 512Mb RAM (yes I gave it to them). Anyway, it works and runs with Windows 2000 workstation edition. I installed all the normal utilities on this computer including AVG which has automatic update (but not automatic scan) and of course automatic updates from M$ for the OS. Additionally, I installed logmein so that I may log in remotely to fix problems which has already saved a lot of trouble once since I installed it. Other than that they have been using AOL for their email for years and it would be hard to change them over to some other email service which sucks but thats what they like. Anyway, AOL is on here (hehe) and it is set to access through TCP/IP over their DSL connection. Of course, Firefox 3 and all the necessary plugins are installed. If they have a real problem they can call me, start up the computer and let me log in remotely to see whats going on with it. :)
I've been remote Windows XP tech support for my 80+ year old father for many years now. I created several non-administrative logins for him, each without a password that open up a particular application (in the optimal state) that he uses. So he clicks on the "Email" user to open Outlook Express, which opens right up. (I use a local copy of Popfile to filter SPAM.) His web browser opens to the web-based chess program we play. And another user opens to the picture album on the web. I substituted meaningful pictures for the ones XP provides.
There is of course an admin account (with password) for me. I access it occasionally for help, but so far have been very lucky - few problems. I also run RDC to support remote login (via an IPSec tunnel.) I run AVG Free and Windows Defender, and when I visit I run scans with the free Spybot S&D and/or Adaware.
Next trip, I am going to take him a new machine running RAID 1 and loaded with... Ubuntu. (It's all ready to go.) However, I am NOT going to make him switch interfaces - he does not like it when I change things. Instead, I've got VirtualBox installed with an XP instance, and I created I backup "pristine" copy of XP. I figure if it is ever hosed, I can login to Ubuntu remotely and just restore the original instance of XP. BTW, it's configured to login to Ubuntu and startup XP automatically - he will not realize there's another OS underneath, and I will get something much easier to manage remotely. I'm looking forward to being able to remote in and see what he's seeing at the same time (RDC doesn't allow me to login and see the same screen he's seeing.) In fact, I plan to run an rsync daemon on Ubuntu to backup my systems through the IPSec tunnel.
One last thing: if the new machine had a CPU that supported hardware virtualization, I would have used a lightweight hypervisor like Xenserver Express. Having Ubuntu makes me a tad nervous... more moving parts than a straight XP install. However, I think it will overall be a win-win.
I recently set up a computer for an aunt who'd never owned a computer. She'd used them at public kiosks and work, but that's it. Her primary use was just web browsing, email and occasional letter typing. I was originally going to put Windows on it, but then thought I'd try an experiment.
So instead I installed Ubuntu (Intrepid) on an old machine (Athlon XP 2500+, 1GB RAM), set up my admin account and her limited account, and set up SSH on it so I could remotely administer it if I needed to. Total installation, updates and configuration took maybe 2 hours
So far it's been a month and I've never even had to go help her with...well, anything! She's been using it daily, and I've not had to fix anything.
I saved time from having to install antivirus/spyware-scans, installing updates and service packs (I only have a slipstreamed copy of SP2, I haven't had a reason to bother slipstreaming SP3 yet), it's nice and snappy even with just 1GB RAM (certainly helps to not have to run an on-access virus scanner!) and it literally does everything she needs.
Forget Windows. Seriously, what's the point for someone who just wants to go online? Letting the "average user" go online with Windows is walking into a high-school with a kick-me sign on their back.
I installed log me in free on my 86 yo fathers computer and a couple of times per week I log in and check on error messages, updates, etc. If he has a problem he drops me an email and I log on and fix it and leave an opened notepad message on when and what I did. He has had very little problems since.
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=955999&cid=24909591
Slashdot = Sarcasm
Ubuntu is a pale imitation of a real desktop OS. It's stable because you can't do anything with it.
I'm a Linux sysadmin and I run 4 CentOS servers (because real server work is done with Red Hat variants!)
My brother uses Fedora on his desktop and laptop, but my mom's computer is a different story. A Windows 3.1 label program based on DBF files, links to streaming video that doesn't play with the mplayer plugin, powerpoint files containing synchronized music and animation that looks strange in openoffice, etc.
So my mom's computer has Windows XP Pro, AVG (free), Firefox, OpenOffice, and the free PowerPoint 2007 viewer.
Linux is good for big, hard-to-drive non-visual servers. It's mediocre and incomplete as a desktop.
Screw all you Ubuntu fanboys, you're giving Linux a bad name.
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/16458
Slashdot = Sarcasm
That having been said, Vista really does break itself. With all of that DRM-supporting driver check-and-counter-check stuff going on (which also eats CPU), if Vista even thinks that something might be amiss, it gives the user 'a degraded experience'.
Once again, the difference between the willful 'degraded experience' of Vista and 'breaks itself' is.... nonexistent.
Yes, Vista claims that it's breaking itself for your own good, but the fact remains that Vista really does break itself.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
My 80+ y.o. mother in law had been using a Windows XP system. But at least once a month, somtimes once a week, I'd have to go fix it because she got it screwed up somehow, or couldn't figure it out, or got the latest malware on it from a friend's email. So this past autumn I told her I would "upgrade" it to this newer version to help her out. I installed Ubuntu (Hardy). It's been 3 months and she loves it, no problems, *and* I don't have to be tech support every time I go over there. I very much recommend it.
Simple answer? Buy a lap top with software for their needs. IE: Mail software, and a browser, that's it, nothing fancy, your basic machine with basic progs. Operating system is irrelevant. If that is too difficult, you need to re-think your chosen profession. Over thinking is best done by lesser mortals.
Can't think of anything clever or funny.
Once they start asking you computer questions, that's when you push them on the floor, fracture their hips, sweet talk them into giving you power of attorney, roll them into the nursing home and walk away forever.
Disable all the power saving stuff such as settings that turn off the hard drive, monitor, etc. after so many minutes..... disable that because they often don't know why their computer "just turned off" and often proceed to unplug, reboot, or otherwise fix this issue. Show them the power button and let the computer either be "on" or "off". Also the "desktop cleanup wizard" in XP - Oh my god that's crap - turn it off so it doesn't delete your big pretty icons you made for them. Try all the apps they are going to use first yourself so as to deal with any first time configuration and problem issues so they don't have to. just a few things off the top off my head....
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
My grandma has had amazing success with SoftShell. Basic email, photos, games and very simple web browsing (e.g. no scroll bars, pop-ups, etc). It is for Windows and can be configured to run when the computer starts, so she never has to see any of the Windows interface like auto-updates, etc... We combined it with an HP Touchsmart ($1100) touch screen computer and it's so friggin' simple with the touchscreen (i.e. touch the 'mail' button to read new email, done) that she learned it in 5 minutes. You can also add people to her address book and add bookmarks remotely, which is nice...
Storm
My grandma likes to play chess on an old windows laptop. As she constantly got confused with right clicks and pressing the wrong buttons as well as repositioning windows and sliders, I used Autohotkey to disable right clicks and disable mouse-dragging actions. Also I created some autohotkey macros to make the chess app stay in foreground, etc. Bottom line is: Autohotkey plus a bit of tweaking might help to avoid mistakes and simplify usage.
Just get your relative an Asus EEE - icon based desktop with easy programs for everday use. It is the opposite end of the spectrum from OLPC for kids in Africa, but the requirements are probably similar. For myself, having used MS Windows since 3.1, I have just now ditched everything at home I use for Linux, my wife was upgraded to XP from Vista, and my kids are using Vista with varying problems. MS have no idea what the market wants or needs, and after being a die-hard user I have seen the light. Now if I have to, I use XP on VirtualBox in Ubuntu, and relish the indignity Windows has of being relegated to an application window!
Dad died and I and my siblings had moved far away so I bought Mom a Mac Mini and paid for cable broadband. I've been using Macs since 1987 so setting up was a doddle. The main thing that surprised me (I don't know why) is that she didn't find the mouse at all intutitive. I had to literally hold her hand and show her how to use it. As a former shorthand typist, she also had problems with "word wrap" and was continually putting in a "line feed" when it wasn't needed. But she got to grips with all this. I also had to set the screen resolution lower than I personally like, so she could see the text clearly. For the first week I used "Chicken of the VNC" twice to help her out from home. Her main problem was that she kept "losing" windows by accidentally clicking on the red or yellow blobs. A year later she had major problems and I had to do a 300 mile round trip which culminated in my swapping her Mini for a "spare" that I'd bought off eBay. Later, at home, I had to replace the 80GB drive inside hers because that turned out to be the cause of the problems. Overall, it has been a fairly painless experience for both of us. I disabled automatic updates because the Mac is stable "just works", and because updates have a nasty habit of screwing things up. I have zero experience of Windows and Linux so, in all honesty, I can't make any sort of comparison. But my vote has to go for the Mac because (apart from the Hard Drive failure) it has been trouble-free. A few weeks ago my neighbors asked if I'd help sort out their Windows PC. I explained that I couldn't but that I could set them up a cheap Apple Mac instead, since they use the computer only for web browsing, email and letter-writing. I bought a real cheap 1GHz "Quicksilver" G4 tower off eBay and fitted an additional Hard Drive inside for backups. I did a clean install of "Tiger" then made sure it would connect to the Internet via an Ethernet connection to their router. They commented on how fast it seemed, compared with their 2GHz Packard Bell and asked if AV software was installed. They took some convincing that it wasn't needed! Now, some weeks later, they are still delighted. Fast user-switching is fast and easy. The whole family can use the Mac with ease and the migration from Windows has been surprisingly easy.
Over 4 years I tried Win2000, Ubuntu and then an old MAC G4. They always had problems and they hated me. Last year I bought them a new TV, subscribed them to a premium DirectTV package, bought them a fax machine, and they love me again.
Sure, the talk about CSI reruns at the dinner table gets old, but it has saved me a ton of time and aggravation.
You might find this helpful - designed to make windows usable for seniors:
http://mysoftshell.com/r/indiv/info.php
a good way to help a senior pc user is this one
www.eldy.org
www.eldy.eu ( in english)
run on linux and XP too
thats right buy them a apple. i had a old imac g3 i put osx on and gave it to my dad. he used to use my windows pc but would easy get confused with my setup. or when it asked abought something. he never asked for any help using osx. he even got to the point he is installing stuff on the g3 on his own. only time i ever need to service it is if thers a power outage and the pram needs to be reset that does require me to take off the case.
Daybot:: You must be Yet Another Opinionated and Ignorant Yankee who does not know that there are many English patois, of which yours is but one . There are more English speakers in the rest of the world than there are in the US. I assure your there is nothing whatsoever wrong with Domini's ability to spell. Didn't you notice the .za domain?
Daybot:: You must be Yet Another Opinionated and Ignorant Yankee
Chris - did you have a bad day? I hope not, especially if you celebrate Christmas. My post was light-hearted - it's funny when someone mis-spells 'taught', because 'taught' implies learning, but they haven't learnt how to spell that very word. It was a light-hearted little joke on my part and certainly not intended to offend anyone for whom English is their second language. I'm actually English - as in, from England, and therefore painfully aware of the sacrilegious perversions of my country's beautiful language ;)
Grandma has done fine this far without a damn computer. Do not complicate her life! You are delivering her into the hands of Nigerian scammers and every other kind of con man. Send the computer back. If you will not because she can't hear on the phone any more, and you think email is the answer, at least Vista has big icons she can actually see on a 1280x1024 flat panel, but get a dual core CPU, and all the ram it will hold, or the slowness will make her think it is broken. And for God's sake, turn off UAC or she will be too afraid to say yes to anything, and will get absolutely nothing done. Not even email.
Kids and grandkids foisting computers on seniors are NOT doing them a favor.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
I often see this kind of comment which either implies or explicitly states that linux has no problems with malware and needs no firewall.
How can this be? Are we to believe that the developers of linux had some magical insight unavailable to the windows developers which means that once software is installed it is prevented from doing anything which the user wouldn't want it to? Are we to believe that a linux machine doesn't respond to ping or doesn't have open ports or bugs in software which can cause it to be made to do unexpected things?
Really, this is not a troll.. Yah, I know, it kinda sounds like one.. It's just me wondering if all this apparent fanboyism is really just ppl who close their eyes and pretend to not see problems or if there really are no problems.
I would like to know. I'm thinking of switching over but feel uneasy without fifteen layers of firewall/antivirus/anti-spyware protection...
Since you sound sincere, I'll respond. Linux is generally more secure due to better default settings, no integrated browser in the os, better policing of code, more frequent updates, smaller marketshare, and system variation.
Ubuntu, for example installs with no open ports and gives you a user account that requires you to type in your password to do anything major (Vista now has these features). With a smaller marketshare, it's not as attractive to write a virus or malware since Windows is a much larger and easier target. With no 'patch day', there isn't a window of opportunity that an exploit can be planned for (say right after patch day... then you have a whole month available). Without an integrated browser in the OS- drive-by (simply visiting a page) infections aren't possible. Viruses and malware can't rely on the same apps to always be there (IE, Outlook/Outlook Express, MS Office). This page has a good write-up on some of the issues: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/security
That is not to say that Linux doesn't have security problems, it just has less of them.
If you want to do a test run, burn or order a free copy of an Ubuntu CD http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu (or another Linux distro with a Live CD option) and try it out (boot off the disk). It will run slower off of the CD but you can try it out without making any permanent changes to your PC. Or if you want to install, you could also make a dual boot setup. Try it for a while. If for some reason you have a problem, switch back.
Has anyone tried Windows SteadyState? I've never used it but I believe it can be configured to lock down Windows completely. Every time you boot you get the original settings you put in - every change that's been made since the last boot gets wiped.
My apologies. English being my second language notwithstanding. I do take pride in my high level of linguistic ability. Misspelling due to a lack of knowledge would be the only time I would feel ashamed. In this case my mind must have wandered. (since 'tought' is not even a real word and does indeed alert my spellchecker, however at the time I was at work and had to type 'blindly')
Insofar the differences between US and British English are concerned, I've made quite a study of if, having had a British English based education and am now working in the US. Differences in spelling and grammar abound!
I'm the first to try and correct people if I truly believe they are mistaken and it will benefit them. Not if it is clear that the person made a typing error. I would try and correct it when people confuse homonyms (too/to, here/hear, etc.) since those are likely to escape the detection of most spellcheckers.
For the record, I do think US English does simplify things and forces a more consistent rule-set on spelling and grammar, but I like 'antiques' and prefer the originals in most cases (Cars, Movies, Songs, and Language) for romantic and artistic reasons.
But in this case I do see the humor. /rofl
Oh, and please ignore the more insidious pleonasms, dangling participles, incorrect and spurious comma splices and British serial commas I have perpetrated! (some habits are just too hard to beat...)
(But feel free to point out any malapropisms.)
I should stop now, for in hypercorrection[sic][sic] lies madness! :P
My grandmother who's 86 got her hands on a computer when she was 84. My instructions were quite simple. Do whatever you feel like doing. Mess it up as you wish. She uses it daily to email. From my experience Google services (gmail - google docs) work great. a) very intuitive b) little data loss (elder people hardly understand the save concept) c) you cant pull the menus up and down and mess it up so it just works. How I did it. Had a ghost image of the system (vista) to do a weakly restore. Firefox as browser. Gmail as her homepage. And let them learn how to use it themselves. I cant cope with touchpad she cant cope with the mouse. Give them the option and free will to choose. My 5 cents.