Comments on: Help Key: How to Idiot-Proof Your Parents’ Computer

By: Kayne

Kayne — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:32:58 +0000

lol. That sounds like my dad. lol

By: William

William — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:17:40 +0000

You could also use something like I’m InTouch, http://www.imintouch.net to remotely control your parents computer for those times when they need help and you don’t feel like explaining over the phone. If you have a PocketPC, you can even use that to control their computer.

By: William

William — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:17:06 +0000

Sorry, the link should http://www.imintouch.net

By: William

William — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:16:15 +0000

You could also use something like I’m InTouch, http://www.imintouch.net, to remotely control your parents computer for those times when they need help and you don’t feel like explaining over the phone. If you have a PocketPC, you can even use that to control their computer.

By: Joshua Menton

Joshua Menton — Tue, 22 May 2007 09:03:16 +0000

To John how are you? a have good day got

Love Joshua Menton

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:59:43 +0000

Some good points and suggestions. I am considering setting up a computer for my mother to talk to her sister, my aunt. We are in Pa and my aunt is in Texas. I know my mom will have to be shown things a couple times, she has only recently learned how to work the dvd and needs help at times with that. BTW, she is 73, and my aunt is 75. My aunt learned when she moved to Texas a couple of years ago and my mom is the only one of her family who doesn’t at least have a pc and email. She is definitely computer illiterate.
As to the ’seniors’ not knowing how to use a computer, I have owned computers since 1977, and have been known to take one apart and upgrade and replace parts. I am in a minority of people my age. I know more people who can use certain programs, email, MS office, MSIE, but I also know many who do need help from their children or grandchildren. (I think I am one of the few people I know who are equal or advanced beyond my kids knowledge of tech subjects, though my son would frag me in a minute in a video game). Most people use computers like cars, they know how to turn it on and get where they want to but don’t know how the thing works. Give someone older then 40 a new program, and except for those of that age who read blogs and tech pages like we do, they either panic or need to get help from someone more computer literate.
I am lucky in that in my family we have an electrical engineer, a tech support speccialist, and 2 others (myself in this group) who like to play around with computers. (the ee knows the least about computers of the 4 of us) (If I was 10 years younger I would have been more into computer tech but was a matter of timing and need to get a job ;)) Problems with the parent’s PCs and with other family members are usually shared between the geeks of the family.
The one point I tried to make with the last paragraph is that a majority of those over 40 are not as computer literate as those under 40, but then most of us didn’t grow up with computers and tech surrounding us everyday. I remember getting a tv that actually had UHF channels, not just CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. I am a geek at heart and enjoy the computer for itself as much or more then the programs it runs.

By: Speedcat Hollydale

Speedcat Hollydale — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:41:44 +0000

Setting up a G-Mail account is easier on the minds of the aged parent if you tell them that it is for your own personal messages to them. They learn it, they love it! ……..Presto

Speedcat Hollydale

By: Mackenzie

Mackenzie — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:17:11 +0000

Syskoll, my mom uses Ubuntu too, but I don’t have her do anything CLI. I just disabled sudo rights for her completely. I figure that with her fear of clicking anything, she can’t possibly break it without admin rights. There’s really nothing she could do beyond dragging the contents of her ~ to ~/.Trash. Somewhere along the line, my mom figured out Ctrl+P = Print. I caught her using it in Firefox and was very surprised. She also started telling her friends how much faster and easier Ubuntu is than Windows. The whole “know what company makes the software” deal in the Start Menu just didn’t go well. GNOME’s way of organizing (categories) is much more sensible. She asked how to type stuff, and I said “well go to the menu” so she clicked “Applications” and I asked “now what category is that?” and she said “office?” and moved the mouse there, then the submenu came out with options of “word processor” “spreadsheet” and “presentation” from which she was able to figure out which it was that she needed. GNOME seems to make a lot more sense to her. I haven’t had a single support call from her. I got one from my younger (computer illiterate) brother asking how to make it save as .ppt instead of in an OOo format.

I keep meaning to set up ssh on there, but I’ve never used it, they don’t have a static IP, and if the last 5 months are any indication, I don’t think I’ll need it. All I’m needed for is distribution upgrades. Due to some issues I’m having with GRUB that I haven’t worked out yet (I think it’s a BIOS thing), I have to edit /etc/grub/menu.lst after each kernel update, so I just block the kernel updates from happening until distro upgrade time. They are now safe to do routine updates, and when I visit I add a bit of functionality with an upgrade (last time was going from Ubuntu 6.06 to 6.10 and adding Beryl).

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:33:57 +0000

As much as I love family, yes they do get annoying, and its a serious problem when you’re having to devote your weekends to fixing computer problems with someone very stubborn with the added bonus of not being very computer savvy (but thinks they are) over your shoulder telling you what to do as you fix their machine.

It gets worse if you have a vehicle on its last legs, and you have to drive several hundred miles to do it. ;)

Thanks for posting this. Got my brain thinking about tunneling in the next time. That way I can run spyware removal software and fix minor issues without the added wear and tear on my car, or feeling like I lost blood at the gas pump.

By: ChipThomas

ChipThomas — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:41:55 +0000

Brian,

If you have the ability to post a response on this page then you are not in the demographic to which this article is referring.

You make a good point though, you don’t have to be old to be a disaster on a computer. My mother-in-law is a real hazard to any open computer and she isn’t that old.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:49:13 +0000

I have read all of the comments on here about how may get uptight about helping their parents with small computer problems. My parents are both in their 70’s and have had a computer for about 10 years now. They occasionally get into trouble and call for help.

I am quite proud of the fact that they have taken the time and trouble to be able to go online and even doing business on line. Computers have opened the world up to everyone and we, those that have the ability and knowledge to help others, should be willing to help those who don’t have the ability and knowledge venture out into that world safely and securely.

I have no problem talking them through a problem or going to their house to fix something I can’t over the phone.

There were some good comments and I am looking into ultrVNC or logmein for my parents just because of the price of gas these days.

Someone had to teach you how to do things on a computer at some point in your life.

I guess my final comment is. For all of the things your parents have done for you over the years, what is a few minutes of your time back to them?

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:06:52 +0000

Hey, I almost resemble your title as I’m probably as old as your ‘rents — and, yeah, I still have a land line. For we Baby Boomers, it’s a utility and a necessary thing. Heh. However, I’m also very IT literate, with me being one of the very few with a PC as far back as the early 80s, probably before you were born.

Nevertheless, I found your article very well written and a much needed thing. My 72 year old mother will benefit from your suggestions.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

By: MagnoliaSouth

MagnoliaSouth — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:24:11 +0000

Yep, like many others, I have a computer illiterate parent. She’s worked with computers since the 70’s but still doesn’t quite have the whole Windows things down.

I did like you and set up Gmail for her. I also installed Firefox and loaded up a few extensions, so things would run smoothly without her having to fiddle with it.

Keep in mind however that this doesn’t stop the phone calls and problems. She got a Norton popup informing her that her trial subscription (which came with her laptop) was running out. I knew about this and wanted to install something much less intrusive like Avast. Well the moment she got the popup she bought the stupid thing and the gazillion new Norton popups began to drive her nuts. It finally caused a system freeze, so she called me saying she couldn’t turn her computer off and I needed to come over right away. The laptop had been on since yesterday (yes, it was plugged in). So I asked the first thing that popped into my head…

Me: Well what happens when you push the power button?
Mom: What power button?
Me: Um, the one you use to turn it on?
Mom: OH MY GOSH!!! I didn’t even think about that.

That’s just one of many examples. :)

By: Woeful

Woeful — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:51:46 +0000

I’m a public librarian and I see it all.

Although there are some elderly people who are more than competent at using a PC, most are not. One of the hardest concepts for anyone over 65 to grasp is using a mouse. It seems that there is some kind of “click” block where these folks don’t have the motor skills necessary to click, or double-click without dragging icons around randomly. These skills are foreign to them, and take practice. Between arthritis, and a lack of patience it isn’t easy for many of them to catch on.

Additionally, the Federal government is now requiring more and more online involvement from people for IRS, Medicare, etc… Many of these older folks have never used a computer, they never needed to, they don’t want to, and I don’t blame them. The Government is shoving technology down their gullets in the twilight of their lives. Last year, when the Medicare Prescription plan went into effect, we had SO many elderly people coming in in a panic because they needed to use a PC for the first time (couldn’t get through on the phone, and it was required) in their lives… It’s sad that the Government put them through this.

By: 电子网

电子网 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:20:41 +0000

Dudes- Im a computer teacher on a tiny greek island. I was setting up a gmail acct for one of my customers and he says “Oh no its ok i already have an account..” so I got him to sit at his machine and go to his gmail. He went to google and typed “yahoo.com” into the search bar… Another classic is when people email me asking why they cant email…

By: 2Jour

2Jour — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:12:40 +0000

Hi I have a few tips in my blog to help make computers easier for parents. It is geared toward seniors but i think these tips can be helpful for any age.

http://2jour-computertips.blogspot.com/index.html

The main problem which us youngins tend to forget is accessibility :). A lot of times our parents have a hard time with computers because it is hard for them to see and even hard to use the mouse. This is why I strongly recommend Opera as an alternative browser. They have amazing zoom capability. In addition, they have great keyboard support. This is great to have since beginners have a hard time getting used the mouse.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:47:28 +0000

I also use LogMeIn to remotely manage my parents’ Windows system.

One other problem I’ve had to overcome is that they kept moving the icons all over the desktop. I found a program called IconLock written in 1999 by PC Magazine. The article is still available at http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=8254,00.asp. You can download it at http://roverbot.tripod.com/iconlock.htm.

While the article says “IconLock runs under Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4,” I’ve found that it runs fine under Windows XP. Do be sure that you exercise all the desktop and Start menu items that they’ll need to use as you can’t completely lock it down or they won’t be able to launch items on the desktop or even from the Start menu.

One other tip. I setup a Blogger blog that I set as the homepage on their Internet Explorer. With that I can add links to their homepage from anywhere and all they have to do is close and reopen Internet Explorer and the new link will be right there in front of them!

By: switchcode

switchcode — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:44:57 +0000

By: Mike Borchew

Mike Borchew — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:52:07 +0000

I have taken a lot of tech support calls from my family and have to agree with the John on most of his suggestions – especially on setting up people with gmail. I am a big fan of Unix and have been using it for over 20 years but wonder if this is the right thing for a technophobe.

One tool that I have recently discovered that has been very effective with helping my family on tech support issues, is a free Remote Control tool. It has been a hit with my family mainly because it is easy to use. http://www.zolved.com/remote_control

The other effective strategy that I have found is to use a new web service for a while before introducing it to my family/network. That way I am sure that the service is easy to use and doesn’t have landmines that will trigger support calls for me later on.

By: paradox

paradox — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:28:42 +0000

Brian: Your blog post completely missed the point of Presto’s marketing angle. They are encouraging boomers to buy the thing for THEIR parents, who may not want to have a full computer with internet access. Nowhere does it imply that BOOMERS are incapable of operating technology – it implies their PARENTS are. And judging from my parents and grandparents (I’m early 30s), that marketing is right on.