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Ask Slashdot: How Best To Set Up a Parent's PC?
CodingHero writes "My mother uses a recent enough PC running Windows XP and has a broadband connection, but her primary method of interacting with the online world remains the AOL software. She also likes to download and use various seasonal wallpapers, screensavers, etc. Usually all this works fine and I don't get family tech support calls, but occasionally something big goes wrong. Since she lives 400 miles away, that means I get to provide phone tech support. While I can usually get something fixed through simple instructions, sometimes it's just too complicated to properly diagnose and explain over the phone (e.g., a trojan infection that anti-virus won't get rid of on its own). I'd like to set up the system so that her account is not an Administrator and that I can easily (and securely) remotely connect to fix problems, install stuff she really wants to use (after proper vetting of course), and so on. Moving to Linux or a Mac is not an option. Upgrading the system to Windows 7 and breaking the AOL habit, while seemingly the best course of action, is going to mean a lot of my time up front to explain how to do things all over again, time that I don't have a lot of right now. Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, what did you find was the best way to re-educate a parent and/or set up a method to securely and remotely manage a system, or at least lock it down to better protect it?"
Get her one.
Walking a parent through steps over the phone can be a frustrating experience. Even after moving my father to a Mac I still found myself having to deal with his issues for the first couple of months on a near-daily basis. Using TeamViewer helped this immeasurably. Free for personal use.
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Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
"Recent enough PC running Windows XP."
"My mother uses a recent enough PC running Windows XP and .. Moving to Linux or a Mac is not an option"
Why are you asking here and not on a Windows forum?
AccountKiller
Agreed. Deny all knowledge of computers.
If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?
I've done this. Set your parent up in XP with a non-admin account. Ensure you can have her sign in as admin when necessary. Worst case, she signs in as admin and there's a big icon on the desktop (make the background color red or something to make ti really obvious) for running joinme session, and nothing else. On her default desktop, all the usual icons (as well as joinme). I also set up FIrefox w/ adblock, and the PC has been virtually problem free. Only had to walk through setting up a new printer.
If you're willing to move her to Win7 and away from AOL software, why not just move her to Linux? The best thing I did for my parent's computer (they are 6000 miles away) is to replace their WinXP computer with one that runs Linux that's configured to open a web browser immediately upon startup - no login required.
The computer also ssh'es to my public server and opens a tunnel back to their computer so I can connect via VNC if needed.
When they got a new camera, I was able to remotely set up a script so If they plug in a memory card from their camera, it copies the images from the card automatically and uploads to an online photo album.
This covers 100% of what they use a computer for, and completely eliminated their recurring virus infections.
1. Install logmein (logmein.com) - the free edition is just fine.
2. Make your mom a standard user. Non-administrator.
3. Create an "Admin" account. Do NOT tell her the password.
It's working so far for my mother-in-law. Her old computer was so badly infested that I just gave up and gave her one of my spares. (She had no reload media.)
Now, even with her teen grandson surfing porn (yes, I caught him at it, yes, we had a long talk about it but I doubt he's stopped) it seems to be clean.
She has Windows 7. Maybe it won't work as well with XP.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
I know you said it's not an option.
But I converted my brother and a friend to Ubuntu. Both extremely reluctant to move. So I saved their old Windows hard drive, told them they'd never have to worry about a virus again, and that I would help them figure out anything they didn't understand. It's been a resounding success. Support calls have dropped from several per month to one every six months.
"downloading seasonal wallpapers and screensavers"
I can't think of a quicker way to get my Windows system infected. Seriously, if you're going to break the AOL habit, move her to an iPad or Linux. You won't regret it. Actually, you owe it to her and yourself.
Don't.
Have her buy something from Best Buy or wherever, and direct her to ask them for support.
Seriously, why do you want to be her 24/7 tech support? DON'T DO IT!
I was going to suggest the same, but then I thought 'he might actually like his mother'.
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
Shame Linux isn't a option. Not only can my father not deal with an English only user interface, he has no sense of online security at all. So I installed Ubuntu with Chinese on a second hand P4 for his email and web-browsing habit. There is very little maintenance on my part because he doesn't do much of anything else. Occasionally I will go in and delete the unexecutable crap that gets downloaded unintentionally, but that's it. That was more than 3 years ago. Haven't had a serious problem yet. Haven't looked back since.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
I'll glady be my parents' tech support for as long as they live. Why? Because they were my complete life support for about the first 16 years of my life, setting me up with the opportunities to learn skills I need to make triple my parents' income doing "tech support" for nameless faceless companies like Best Buy. No way in hell am I going to tolerate my own mother to drudge her way through tech support at places like that.
After trying several different hand-me-downs over the years including a 486, original iMacs (Lemon-lime), and a recent desktop Apple, I've concluded that the next machine will be the iPad with the largest display that I can find.
Consuming content - check
App in the same place as it was before - check
buttons and menus not moved around even inadvertently - check
I set up my mother with Ubuntu, and she loves it. She appreciates the "tidiness" of the desktop, and the simplicity of it all.
... and I popped on and fixed it. And then reminded her about the dragons.
I left her set up with the ability to sudo, but with the warning that "there be dragons", and to contact me.
I set up OpenVPN so I could always SSH on, and fix anything.
The only time I've ever had a problem was when my sister's Windows-using ex boyfriend tried to install something, and stuffed up the firewall rules. I simply talked her through sudo iptables
Years of trouble-free computing.
Get your own free personal location tracker
Buy them something that comes with phone support. Seriously.
Sure, the support contract may be somewhat expensive, but it's a lot easier when you don't have to worry about support yourself.
Buy them an iMac and get them AppleCare support for 3 years for 169 USD
Buy them a Dell Inspiron One and get 3 Year Enhanced Support for 149 (I can't find a direct link to a description)
Buy them an HP Envy and get an HP 3 year Care Pack149 USD
Or some other company - it doesn't matter. What matters is that they can bother someone other than you about these things.
It boils down to something like 50 dollars a year for ease of mind - both for you and them. Sure, it's easy to call you, but they also worry that they're disturbing you. Much easier to pay someone else to do it.
It sounds callous and harsh, but honestly, having worked in phone support for two of the companies, I can tell you, that once you explain to these people that instead of having to worry about bothering their friends or family, they can simply call us and not have to worry about bothering anybody, you can almost always hear a a load being removed from their shoulders.
Yes, we like being able to draw on help from friends and family, but we also don't want to come off as needy and helpless.
you just made me hungry for chinese food
A) Users aren't administrators. Don't give them administrative access.
2) No Internet Explorer. Ever. At all. For any reason.
If you want to go above and beyond install Microsoft Security Essentials, Chrome, and some remote management tool like LogMeIn so you can see what they see. You will also need to have an administrator account (I prefer to have my OWN account with administrative access, rather than use the "administrator" account).
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
- Install Teamviewer so you can fix stuff remotely
- Install Chrome
- Drag and drop her AOL favorites from the browser directly into Chrome's bookmark manager
- Remove AOL from the system with extreme prejudice
- Go have a Mai Tai, you've earned it.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Chrome OS just screams out for usecases like this.
Just consider, for a moment, that accepting one's parent's foibles is a kindness. Karma-producing, even. Just like not getting upset about baby drool.
Then remember that the reason this is such an effective infection vector is because there are SO MANY PEOPLE like this. There are entire industries creating wreaths, and window stickers, and seasonal decorations.
Now go back and attempt to consider the original question with more compassion for the ignorant user, and less snark for the helper. You can count it as your good deed for the day.
Yeah, I jokingly suggested getting something in trade for my tech support and Mom helpfully reminded me of who funded my college ;-)
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
And programmed an oversized remote, which I turned sideways. She thinks QVC is "Amazon".
Maybe "remote assistance" is what you are thinking of? It's very similar, but avoids the annoying router issue.
Battlemaster--Game with friends in medival realms
You said Linux wasn't an option because she doesn't want to learn Linux. That's a confusion of concerns - the two aren't mutually exclusive.
1) setup linux. CentOS 6 probably because it will last forever.
1a) optionally setup VNC sharing of the root X.
2) setup VirtualBox.
3) virtualize her existing XP install and run it on VirtualBox.
4) snapshot it
5) Set it to auto-login, auto-start, auto-run the VM. Go with 'quiet' in grub if you want to.
Now, set her loose. If she gets hosed, ssh into the box (vpn, reverse tunnel, etc.) and revert to the snapshot. When you visit, or remotely if you've setup X forwarding or VNC, install the security updates and take a new snapshot.
This will provide her with a higher level of service than you're currently able to provide her (rapid restore to a good state) and it will make your life easier as well.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Normally, even I put Windows on machines and hope for the best. But some recent experiences I have had with some Ubuntu loads (I'm a redhat guy... I would not likely use Ubuntu for myself) have really impressed me with how well new users can adapt to it.
I have a son, for example, who has not recently asked me for any help with hit Ubuntu netbook... not recently, not in the past year or more. Reliable as all get-out. Well I take that back... there was one thing where updates somehow resulted in the system not working. I figured it out in a few seconds and had him back on his way. But why is Ubuntu good for my son and for other users? It's all about purpose and approach.
Firstly, in his case, it is an internet device. For most people that's all computers are. And since the MSIE-only web is ALREADY a thing of the past, that old argument is already gone. And since all of his functions are seriously easy to find, there's no learning there either even if it's not behind a start button. And yes, I encountered resistance to it not being Windows. But then I just asked him questions which guided him to the realization that it's the INTERNET he wants, not Windows. It's the functions on the internet he wanted, not the OS. And it seriously didn't take him long to get past it.
It also didn't hurt that I had to clean his malware infested machine(s) numerous times over the years and he accepts his responsibility in all of that and would rather not have to deal with it in the future.
Is this for everyone? Hell no. There will be people who want to go the the store and buy a greeting card maker program and expect it to run. Can't do it with Linux. You can show them alternatives and stuff... heck, lots of web sites do that now. But they probably already bought the software before they asked you to help install it. So it's not for everyone and establishing eligibility and suitability is paramount.
And does my son use Windows? Yup!! It has his Ubuntu netbook but he also has a Windows 7 machine too... for games mostly. But that's the beauty. He now ONLY uses it for the games. Where do we get most of the malware? "The Web" "Email" Right? Well those things are under Ubuntu. I've never heard of anyong getting malware from the games themselves. (Not to say it doesn't happen, just that I never heard of it.) In any case under this usage configuration, he now has reference data on his Ubuntu and the action on his Windows. And NEITHER trouble me all that much at all!
I couldn't be happier.
Also, in the more distant past, I did something similar -- the purpose approach -- and set up Linux for my older step-father. He was running strong for a very long time on RedHat... before it became Fedora. It was good... though I seem to recall on one visit his desktop had a LOT of "setup.exe" "setup(1).exe" and the like. I smile when I saw them. Knew what they meant and was glad it didn't happen. That old machine has undoubtedly been replaced by other relatives and most likely Windows... and you know? That's THEIR problem now and I'm quite sure that step-dad was thinking "I never had that trouble with his [Linux geek step-son] set up..."
Linux is a tough fit because Windows is so pervasive. It's out there and it's very, very expected. But even online banking and the like work perfectly with Linux as the host OS while using a browser other than MSIE. It's still bad enough that you have to nearly make apologies for the state of the industry while you are explaining how things work. But the most important thing to me is that the things which work under Linux WORK. That's email, web, skype, chat, printing and all that. They work.
Yeah she told me. Have the shotgun wounds healed yet?
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
You need to get over windows.
Windows is THE main reason you are having trouble supporting your folks from 600 miles away.
I would install linux (Debian if you're pretty seasoned with linux, Ubuntu otherwise), give her a non-admin account, import her "My Documents" folder and "Pictures" folder from windows (and put desktop shortcuts in). Set up a browser, install the same plugins (flash, adblock, what have you), set the homepage and bookmarks up identically, and believe me, an AOL user will be just fine with this.
Explain that at her level of computer knowledge, it's dangerous to go any other route. It is worth giving up the ability to install any one of the thousands of "seasonal screensavers" (spyware with pretty pictures) for windows xp in exchange for peace of mind and reliability.
If you do this, and give them exactly what they need, which is probably a web browser and skype, everyone wins.
As a bonus, remote admin is a snap. Don't ever install any updates (your mom can't anyway without admin access). Keep it simple! Linux (especially Debian and by extension Ubuntu) has come a long way on the desktop and is very user-friendly. My five-year-old son uses it every day and has yet to complain about it.
"windows and mac are not an option": Well what are you really asking then? "How can I keep my mom using windows and aol without having any problems?" Good luck with that. Don't kid yourself.
I personally just moved myself off windows. Then I would tell them "I don't know anything about windows, sorry". Then they would ask me to help and I would "try to help" and just make things worse. Eventually they got the hint and now they don't ask me for help.
I view this as an extension of the "my house, my rules" principle.
If they want me to run things, then I have to be free to run things. Otherwise they are free to fend for themselves in exactly the same way that they would expect me to if the roles were reversed.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I put my parents on Debian Linux and didn't give them the root password.
For web browsing, email, word-processing, it's great. And that's pretty much all they do anyway.
An iPad is a poor PC replacement for most old folks. They don't need to be doing tasks like email on a small screen with a touch "keyboard".
paintball
So, I really don't understand this (the highlighted part). I've not only run Windows fairly trouble free myself, but I "admin" it for a number of family and friends, and don't find it difficult at all.
This is why Linux never gains any real traction in the consumer space, most of it's fanbase are rabid fundamentalists who turn your average person off with their religious hatred. Windows clearly works ok for most people since most people use it .
I dont live 400 miles from my mom I live about ten minutes away but I installed log me in on hee laptop so I can do stuff for her remotely or teach her remotely it is a great tool and free