Help me with a computer for an older person.

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FADEC

FADEC

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May 26, 2009
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Hill Country TX
Hello,
Really need some help for a computer for my 84 year old mother in law. She is NOT computer savvy and we live 1500 miles away, so its hard to help her troubleshoot her desktop over the phone.

All she needs is something to RELIABLY get on the internet every time. She does not run any programs. And just needs the internet to check her email, bank statement, netflix etc. She will occasionally print to her printer.

With her the simpler/more basic the better. Nothing fancy or expensive.

I was looking at some chromebooks, but don't know much about them, but they may be the answer.

Thanks for all the help. Tom
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Unhelpful "Use Linux Mint!" suggestions in 3... 2... 1...


I don't know if that suggestion would be unhelpful in this case.. Your constant trolling the linux trolls is what is truely unhelpful. You could at least include a legit suggestion.


In this case you want a computer that wont grow garbage if they click a link.. ie no search bars, virus, malware etc.

So Chrome OS or linux seems to have major advantage over windows.

You can just put a giant "INTERNET" shortcut on desktop and bookmark all her sites... would end up being pretty simple.

I would think an elderly person would want a large monitor and good keyboard so that might exclude most chromebooks.
 
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I'd suggest the latest Mac Air book. Create a user password for her that takes her to a screen that has nothing on the dock but Safari.

Or a Mac mini with a nice keyboard and big screen configured the same way.

The mac will keep itself updated and running pretty clean with minimal need for any admin.
 
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Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Unhelpful "Use Linux Mint!" suggestions in 3... 2... 1...

I don't know if that suggestion would be unhelpful in this case.. Your constant trolling the linux trolls is what is truely unhelpful. You could at least include a legit suggestion.

'Constant trolling'? This is exactly the second time I've posted something like this in the 7 years I've been on this site, so no, it's not constant and it isn't trolling. It's a humorous, preemptive response to all the other Windows and general computer threads on here that always turn in to "Windows is evil. Just install Linux and your problems will magically go away!" discussions. Relax.

And a legit suggestion was already posted. Sounds like something running ChromeOS would be just about perfect.

Apologies to the OP.
 
Since you'll probably be doing the support look at remote login stuff like teamviewer. IDK how chromebooks support it; they must, but check into it. I have Teamviewer on Ubuntu but to control others, not to be controlled.
wink.gif
 
I set her up with Firefox with auto updates. But for some reason lately whenever she goes to a web site, Google for instance, it says that the web site is untrusted and does she want to back out or create an exception. Of course this freaks her out. Not sure why it happens especially on a popular web site. She likes Google which seems like a Chromebook might be my best option.
 
Originally Posted By: daddi
I set her up with Firefox with auto updates. But for some reason lately whenever she goes to a web site, Google for instance, it says that the web site is untrusted and does she want to back out or create an exception.

Sounds like she already picked up some malware.
 
I'm not sure what you're asking. Does she have a computer now that's having problems, or are you wanting to get her a new one, or both?

In my experience simpler/less expensive means lower quality/less capable and does not equate to fewer problems but more.

I'm not suggesting that she should have a new $2000.00 Mac Book either, but either watch for a good sale on a Dell/HP/Toshiba etc, look for one that was a good mid range to upper mid range a couple of years ago on Craiglist, or preferably, build her one with what you know to be quality parts. Can be done for well under $500.00 plus monitor, keyboard & mouse.

I second the suggestion for Teamviewer. I maintain computers for family and friends some of whom are thousands of miles away, including one in Alaska, and I couldn't do it without Teamviewer. It's free for personal use and easy to learn to use.

Larry
 
Another vote for Teamviewer for remote troubleshooting. Pick an OS that allows you to use it. It doesn't appear that Chrome OS is supported at the moment. Maybe there is something similar though?

I do like the idea of using Chrome OS or some Linux variety to shield her from potential viruses/malware though.
 
Thanks for all the replies!!

She has a decent computer now, but it seems as she gets older she forgets alot of the basics of it. She gets in a panic and calls us. Hard for me to fix it for her over the phone.

Hard to say when the last time anti malware, spyware, virus scan was done.

Really interested in the teamviewer. What do I need for her to do on her end for me to run the software?? As I mentioned shes not computer savvy.


Can I actually update and run programs from my home computer on her computer, such as virus scanner and malware scanners??? That might be all I need to do!!
 
Security isn't so tough. I'll probably get hooted at, but go with Windows 8.1, (not Windows 10), a good Anti Virus, Malwarebytes Pro and Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Free.

Windows 8.1 is the most secure Windows yet and the 2 way firewall is quite good, a good Anti-Virus combined with Malwarebytes Pro and Windows Firewall will give you very good protection while cutting down on maintenance. Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit free will protect her browser from drive-bys.

Install Firefox and make it the default browser. Then install Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus Add on and Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus. The alternative there is Adblock Edge. Both work fine and will make browsing the web more fun. There are some sites that will have to be whitelisted to work but that's easy enough to do.

Install Better Privacy to stop the Super Cookies. There's a minimal amount of configuring, just a checkbox or two and no more Flash Cookies or any other hidden "Super" cookies.

Consider installing Ghostery to stop most tracking cookies and NoSquint which allows you to set Global or Per Site magnification, on the entire page or just the text.

One of the most important security measures you can take is to make images of here HDD. Even if you only have ONE, (you SHOULD make regular images), you at least have SOMETHING to fall back on when disaster strikes.

One family member had an issue a couple of months ago. She had visited a SEED site. YES! A small mom and pop website that sold vegetable seeds for the garden. She downloaded some "helpful" manual and the next time she turned on her computer it wouldn't boot. No security on the "Seed" site got them infected and that infected most who visited.

BUT, I was able to simply do a restore from an image and in 20 minutes she was back up and running.

If you don't make regular images and make recovery media for your software, you're not serious about security.

Well anyway, that's the way I see it. :)

Larry

Edit to add CCLEANER! Install it and run it once or twice a month. It will clean browser cache, recycle bin and temp files. Sorry and disregard if you're already a CCleaner user!
 
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You can run her computer as if you were sitting there.

Download and install Teamviewer from here. This is the full program.

Once installed you can send her an email from within Teamviewer with a link for her to download and install the remote viewer. From there, once you're logged on to her PC you can install the full program. Or, if she's capable of doing an install, just send her an email with a link to the full program.

Either way, you'll want the full program on her computer. The reason is that with it you'll be able to set up, along with an online Teamviewer account, the Teamviewer install on her computer to give you "Double Click Access" to her computer. Even if you're doing something that requires a restart on hers, it will actually ask you if you want to log back in when hers reboots!

When you're finished, and assuming you have Teamviewer starting with Windows on both computers, you'll see every time she turns on her computer and if you want or need to do something all you have to do is double click on her computer in Teamviewer.

There's a learning curve but it's not bad.

Larry
 
Originally Posted By: daddi
Really interested in the teamviewer. What do I need for her to do on her end for me to run the software?? As I mentioned shes not computer savvy.

TeamViewer is pretty slick and highly rated. It can do lots of things but its basic remote control feature is easy to use. This pretty much spells it out:

http://downloadus2.teamviewer.com/docs/en/first-steps-spontaneous-support-en.pdf

EDIT: Yeah, what he said above ^.

Also, make sure she's not using a local admin account!
 
Does she have a HDTV? You could add an android dongle (or similar micro pc) and turn her TV into an AIO using a Bluetooth wireless keyboard.
 
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