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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.
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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."
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.
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.
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?
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.
The responses of "Use Ubuntu instead" are not all based on fanboi-ism. Most are probably based on the fact that the question as asked is not a solvable problem. In that case, "You can't but, I've used another OS to accomplish this very thing for my parents and it's worked very well" seems like helpful advice to me.
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.
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.
just give them a PC with no OS on it and an OpenBSD CDrom and Theo's phone number :D
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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.
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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'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?
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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.
Try installing Windows SteadyState. A reboot will fix the PC every time. :)
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.