|
|
Put them on Apple gear, seriously. Lifelong Android user, and I know nothing about Apple, but when it came time for them to upgrade from their OG Razr's last year, I was at a crossroads. These people are tech illiterate. I ended up telling them to buy IPhone. Believe it or not, they mostly figured it all out pretty easily. They still get confused and scared by FB video calls coming in, but otherwise are able to talk, text, use social media, etc. So much so they even bought an iPad. It seems the reason I like Android - tons of options and customizability, are the exact opposite of what an older user wants from their device.
|
|
 |
|
My wife does an impeccable job of managing smartphones and tablet computers for many older relatives (and some younger tech-challenged ones too, I suppose) and they're also all on Apple gear. But it's not because the users understand Apple stuff better. They can learn the core workflows they use on any device, and they have most of the important parts written down anyway. The primary reason she put them on Apple was so that they would have mostly the same problems and she could learn from one and apply to the others. I suppose this matters more the more relatives you manage devices for. But as you say, the range of opportunities one can get with Androids or PCs is much wider – which translates to a wider range of problems also.
|
|
|
|
I am an Android developer (and user) with 14 years of professional experience, and I put my elderly mother on iPhone many years ago. For me it came simply down to the simplicity of the iOS system. There are fewer clicks, buttons and functions for her to accidentally get into. Another reason is also that my other siblings (and all of the grandchildren ) are all on iPhone, so I am not a her only IT support person in case one was needed ASAP when I would be unavailable. Personally I don't enjoy the feel of iOS but for her it is perfect.
|
|
|
|
I found the issues went down a lot when I moved everyone to macOS. The OS itself is sandboxed, so a user can’t really destroy it. My mom downloaded some “screensavers” that were actually viruses, and since they were .exe files, they didn’t run or do anything. I think the only thing better would be some kind of immutable OS, where each reboot restores it to its original state. I haven’t set up anything like this on hardware, but I’ve seen it as a VM offering. Of course, if they are already used to some other system, like Windows, changing is probably more trouble than it’s worth. You could just really lock it down, so they only have access to certain applications and their home folder. For the phone, if on iOS, Apple introduced Assistive Access not too long ago to dumb down the phone for people who might need it. You can control which apps they get, and present a simplified version of the apps. https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-...
|
|
|
|
My father has completely destroyed two M1 iMac installs so far. YMMV. He watches YT videos all day and is paranoid about everything. End game was he managed to install two different VPN packages on one install and managed to install a system cleaner on another and spend about £500 in total and end up with two non working systems and higher blood pressure. I think at this point he needs an iPad in a rugged case with screen time turned on and all his credit cards taking away. Possibly locking his hands in a box somewhere where they can't curse anything as well.
|
|
|
|
> Of course, if they are already used to some other system, like Windows, changing is probably more trouble than it’s worth. I thought that, too, but I installed Xubuntu on my parents PC, told them it works like Windows (like double click desktop icons to open programs, the X button in the corner closes them), showed them how to check email, watch Youtube, play solitaire, and shut down. I expected them to say "put it back like what it was", but after about 10 years, it never happened. I eventually showed them how to keep it up to date, but no big security issues ever happened like on Windows.
|
|
|
|
I too did this for my family, but with Ubuntu many years ago. I expected it to be a rather rough switch from Windows, but everyone migrated without a hitch. And the number of support calls went to basically zero.
|
|
|
|
I did the same with a similar outcome. Turns out they stopped using the computer.
|
|
|
|
Did this, but with Linux Mint, and had the same experience. If one only needs a browser and word processor, many Linux distros seem perfect.
|
|
|
|
My mother once somehow trashed her MacOS X install so bad it was stopping at a gray frowny-faced Mac logo screen and going no further. Because I had helped her set up SSH service on it a while prior, I was able to easily remote in from my Linux desktop and actually fix the thing and reboot it for her from hundreds of miles away. Macs make great machines for tech-terrified parental units, even when they break down. :)
|
|
|
|
This is a good suggestion. I don't know why but my mother is intent on destroying her laptop by visiting a lot of religious sites. They all seem to be infected with all kinds of malicious advertisements and bogus download buttons. For the phone, she has an Android but I'm moving her to an iPhone at the first opportunity I get. I tried to talk her into a Macbook Air when she replaced the last laptop but since I wasn't there at the time they foisted another Windows machine on her. Another source of problems is the endless email chains that her generation seem to love, they will forward all kinds of content that is all "hey this is funny watch this" sort of stuff, but turns out to be malicious in some way i.e. download this thing to watch the video, where the thing is some kind of hideous malware. (please note: this is not an anti-religious post, but the malware makers seem to target those sites much more than anything else I have seen.)
|
|
|
|
> (please note: this is not an anti-religious post, but the malware makers seem to target those sites much more than anything else I have seen.) I would guess it is because older people are more likely to visit, so setting up such a site or just buying ad space on it is a good way to target an older (and less tech-savvy) audience.
|
|
|
|
I was thinking it’s more of a trust thing. “If it’s on the church site it must be ok.”
|
|
|
|
|
The biggest problem I have had since I switched my parents to Mac is just my brother in-law who lives with them and regularly loudly proclaim about Macs being a waste of money. He’s installed “virus scanners” multiple times that were themselves if not viruses, at the very least adware. He’s also attempted to defrag my moms ssd-having Mac Mini with some sort of software that claims to do so. They don’t have admin rights anymore most because of this. For some reason though their printer driver regularly pops a notification asking for admin privileges.
|
|
|
|
You would think that macos didn't have problems, but I recently cleaned up someone's mac after I noticed a LOT of redirects when loading a website in safari. Lots of weird directories with almost the right name, launch daemons, things that would re-install themselves when removed, etc. the situation was basically nuke from orbit and start over. this was a few os's back on intel. Maybe it's better now?
|
|
|
|
I can’t remember exactly when macOS made the change. It was a few years back. >The system domain contains the system software installed by Apple. The resources in the system domain are required by the system to run. Users cannot add, remove, or alter items in this domain. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Fi... I’m sure it’s still possible to junk a system up, but a user shouldn’t be able to screw up the actual system files. /Library is probably the biggest wildcard, as it impacts all users on the system, otherwise, creating a new user account should clean up pretty much everything, without having to reinstall the OS itself. I assume making a normal user account for the persons could allow the admin the ability to prevent the user from adding things to /Applications and /Library. The user would still be able to install apps using a ~/Applications folder and have settings in ~/Library. ~/Library is typically used automatically, while ~/Applications is something that needs to be created, but works just fine. I use this at work to install some things I would otherwise not be able to install.
|
|
|
|
I don't recall if that was after APFS and the immutable system. I do remember the stuff I tried cleaning up was in the user's home directory. Not exactly this name, but it might be a directory 'ApplicationSupport' instead of 'Application Support' or something like that.
|
|
|
|
> I think the only thing better would be some kind of immutable OS, where each reboot restores it to its original state I looked into a few of these, but none of their OS update stories were good, it's confusing if anyone random helps out, and saving photos across reboots is fragile.
|
|
|
|
I found a Chromebook, well “chrome top” desktop did this well enough. It’s not technically immutable but it’s hard enough to install and break things that it worked well with my grandmother.
|
|
|
|
> I think the only thing better would be some kind of immutable OS, where each reboot restores it to its original state. I haven’t set up anything like this on hardware, but I’ve seen it as a VM offering.Stateless Windows: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40127728
|
|
|
|
The thing I love about my parents getting Apple products is that they can just go to the Apple Store and have someone help them. An app wasn't launching on their phone, they went to the Apple Store, the person figured out that they hadn't updated their apps in a long time, did that, made sure it worked, and turned on auto-updates (after asking if that would be good for them). Perfect, I didn't even know they had a problem until I heard the story about it being fixed. I've had relatives go to other tech support places and usually it means they pay money for someone to upsell them on something else or tell them they need a new machine. Apple is fine supporting my parents who don't want a new iPhone. Yea, eventually it's out of support, but it's a long enough time. I also love that the Apple ecosystem tends towards "you should be willing to pay money for something" rather than "let's see how we can scam money out of someone unwilling to part with their money." If you're techie, you know the difference between real stuff and fake stuff. When non-techies get a pop-up on their Windows laptop telling them that their anti-virus subscription is running out (that came pre-installed) and that they'll be vulnerable to all sorts of bad things if they don't pay $50, they get nervous and call me. Then I have to figure out (over the phone) how to uninstall the crap and get Microsoft Defender working. Even Windows 11 is just becoming a pile of ads and other junk. With streaming TV boxes, Roku ends up installing apps they don't know how to uninstall because if you press the play button while the TV is off, it installs whatever app they're promoting on the screen saver. Fire TV and Android TV are a mess of ads and it's hard to know what content you have access to and what you don't. I'm just so sick of relatives asking me "How did this app get on my Roku? How do I get it off?" and things like "How do I only see the shows I have access to? Why is it showing me Showtime when it tells me I have to pay when I click on it? I think dad might have subscribed to things because he didn't know what he was doing. How do I cancel that? No I don't know what he might have subscribed to." Sure, you can say that Apple TV comes with the Apple TV app pre-installed, but it isn't constantly pushing things on you. Sure, Apple would like an iCloud subscription, but if my parents end up giving Apple $1/mo, I'm fine with that. The level of difference is simply astonishing. It's like having a store email you once "hey, we have new pants" compared to the stores that email you twice a day "HEY!!!! HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT NEW PANTS!!!!" You can say "they're both doing it", but there's a huge difference. Apple isn't perfect, but I feel comfortable with non-techie people in my life having Apple products. They can get support when they need it at the Apple Store, Apple is happy with the money they've paid for the product, and I can put their technical needs out of my mind. They love it too. They get unlimited free access to helpful employees who fix their stuff faster than I can get to it. Yea, if you're techie you know how things work and what to look for and you can make decisions for yourself. When relatives buy non-Apple stuff, they're making a decision that I'm going to fix things for them.
|
|
|
|
ChromeOS is a good idea if all they do is surf; security risks are pretty low. iPhones are also fairly safe, but the older they get, the slower they'll get and the more you have to support them. I've had to explain to my dad that eventually the software on the phone will be so old that new apps can't go on it. He looks at me in confusion and aggression and asks why, as though I'm responsible for Apple's planned obsolescence. My family was ultimately able to convince my grandmother to get rid of her computers altogether, when her dementia really kicked in. I think we were lucky as she never really got on with computers, and would tell anyone who'd listen how computers 'came in' to her office the year she retired (in the 90s) and so never needed to learn.
|
|
|
|
> I've had to explain to my dad that eventually the software on the phone will be so old that new apps can't go on it. He looks at me in confusion and aggression and asks why I’m with dad on this one! I have so much perfectly good hardware that becomes increasingly useless because Apple stopped providing updates, and 3rd party software developers insist that I’m running the absolute latest OS. I’m at that point yet again with an iPhone 7 that works flawlessly but when I go to get new apps, “SORRY LOSER. You need bleeding edge iOS for your bank’s stupid app!” I’ll channel your dad’s aggression if I ever meet a Schwab software engineer in person. I complain to every Apple employee I know, too, but they all look at me like I’m crazy for not just buying a new phone every year.
|
|
|
|
If you don't want to change OS. Simply creating a non-admin account and installing ad-blockers will go a long way. Tell them most software on Internet have virus so install is blocked. Also enable remote desktop on all. Edit: For some issues like airplane mode, see if you can remove them from quick access.
|
|
|
|
Strange that I had to scroll down this far for this answer. Creating a normal, non-admin user for them will greatly limit the damage they can do as they won't be able to make system-wide changes. I also disabled installing extensions in Edge.
|
|
|
|
I’ve reduced 99% of tech calls from elderly family(60s-80s) by moving them to either ChromeOS/Android or MacOS/IOS and all printers to Brother lasers. If they spend money on phones I lean toward Apple ecosystem. If they penny pinch - Google is king with all second hand Samsung galaxy/books, Dell enterprise chromebooks, or chromeboxes - making sure to verify years of support. It also makes it significantly easier to not mix ecosystems. I then set updates to automatic and make ublockorigin default in the browser. The last 7 years nearly every issue was resolved with a restart.
|
|
|
|
How fucking great are Brother laser printers? The UX is shit, but you very rarely have to interact with it because they just fucking do their job. Mine was in the closet for a couple years once and I took it out, plugged it in, and just printed what I want through WiFi. I remember dealing with HP drivers on Windows back in the day…
|
|
|
|
Just ditched my HP for a Brother a couple months back, after having continual issues with individual colors running out and eventually it refused to recognize a single color cartridge slot, I never used color anyway. So went to a Brother monochrome. Been smooth since.
|
|
|
|
another vouch for brother printers. not optimum but i just plopped one connected to wifi only and it can print with minimal config and also scanning through mac's image capture app.
|
|
|
|
Your comment makes me forget that sometimes it's an inside job. Yes, sometimes it's not sketchysite.com or the "make money fast" email, it is the printer manufacturer that's installing the garbage.
|
|
|
|
I bought them Chrome OS devices and I haven't had to do any tech support since. Phone wise, I have them on Android and I haven't had many problems, but I should have moved them to iOS when they were younger, as I find iOS UI is more stable across upgrades, which tend to leave the phone more or less behave how they used to and new behaviours are usually behind new settings/buttons. And elders who are not used to technology usually struggle whenever there are any UI changes.
|
|
|
|
My father is 84. On average once a week he calls me in a state of confusion and despair that he can’t do something on the computer. 100% of the time it involves logging in to a website or paying for something. This is when I’m so happy he has a Mac - I open Messages, find the last message from him and click on the Share Screen icon. We then complete the activity together, as if I’m sitting next to him. I’m always surprised how few people know this is built into macOS.
|
|
|
|
Almost this same exact thing happened with my parents last week. The only thing is that MacOS' remote desktop seems to work inconsistently. Sometimes it sends the permissions request immediately and sometimes it takes a while. Or the person on the other end says OK but the approval never goes through. When it works it's fantastic though. Ditto for FaceTime screen sharing.
|
|
|
|
I do this easily but with anydesk. It's always on on his Linux Mint laptop and I just start the session, he clicks accept on his popup and we're off.
|
|
|
|
I know nothing about the Apple world so take my question in that context. Is there something equivalent for iPads ? If my wife could take control of her Father's iPad then both parties would be happier, as far as I have been able to discover this is something that isn't able to be done, by Apple software or third-party. If I found I out I was wrong that would be good.
|
|
|
|
|
You could start a FaceTime call, have him share his screen, and lead him through whatever he needs to do. You don't have direct control, but if he can follow directions, it'll work. https://support.apple.com/en-us/109365
|
|
|
|
Well, AnyDesk allows screen sharing from i-Devices, not sure about remote control though.
|
|
|
|
Around 2005 I was using deep freeze for 20ish Windows 2000 public computers with only documents folder mutable so people could save stuff in there.
Worked like magic.
I'm not related with the product, just sharing my experience. YMMV. Edit: link
https://www.faronics.com/es/products/deep-freeze
|
|
|
|
in my experience: 1. linuxmint for PCs / laptops => either the cinnamon or mate edition <== for older hardware!! and yes: semi-cheap brother or kyocera laserprinter - they also work like a charme with linux-based desktops ... but avoid the cheapest ones which sometimes need the windows-software for printing :) 2. either android phones or simple feature-phones with big buttons targeted at sight-impared / elderly people. if you buy them new, avoid the ones which do not support LTE/4G ... depending on which country you are in: here in central/west europe they start to switch off UMTS/3G soon, so the old ones will fall back to GSM/2G. if they don't need a computer: 3. android tablet for media consumption ... with at least a 10 inches screen, because of sight imparement! nearly forgot that ... :) just my 0.02€
|
|
|
|
Forget the PC, move them to iOS devices, and if it’s really bad, set them up as a child account so you can restrict actions like installing or removing apps.
|
|
|
|
Not exactly the answer to OP, but when we had to decide what device to buy for my mom, we bought her an iPad. Best choice ever. Zero maintenance, it's fast, she can do whatever she needs and wants and it's light and easy to move. Drop some water on it? It's fine. Not even the cat can destroy it.
|
|
|
|
> Drop some water on it? It's fine.Careful. I did this to my Magic Keyboard recently. $350 later..
|
|
|
|
Yeah the point is with an iPad you don't have a keyboard to ruin with dust, dirt and liquids. Sure you can't literally dunk it into a pool, but the lifetime is extended compared to a laptop, if you are a person who's not good at taking care of your device.
|
|
|
|
I just assumed the Magic Keyboard had the same water resistance rating as its parent device. Turns out, I was unfortunately right: iPads aren't rated for water resistance, unlike iPhones; TIL. At least the keyboard was kind enough to take one for the team. I never want to find out Apple's unit cost for those.
|
|
|
|
You can also put iPads in MDM software and manage them remotely very easily.
|
|
|
|
|
If the cognitive load of migrating away from Windows is too much, ManageEngine is free for your use-case (for forcing updates/policies, monitoring, and managing access). I'd look at using Assigned Access too (previously known as Kiosk Mode) for locking down their environment to things like browsing the internet.. And nothing else: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/assi...However, locked down Chromebooks and Android profiles are generally the best way to go. Not sure about the Apple ecosystem (even though that's what I'd choose - just haven't found readily available advice).
|
|
|
|
My father continuously had problems sending pictures over SMS, which would be super helpful so that I could help him accomplish tasks remotely. The built-in app on Android was too confusing for him thanks to cognitive decline. I made a super simple app that's only purpose was to send pics via SMS. One screen, contacts selected by drop down, camera view in the center, one button. Google wouldn't let me publish it because SMS apps on the Play Store have to implement ALL SMS functionality. I sent him the APK by email so at least there's that. It worked well for him at least. Fuck Google though.
|
|
|
|
Would you be open to putting it on F-Droid or something like that?
|
|
|
|
Fuck Google for asking to always sign in to Google accounts for everything and tying up shit together.
|
|
|
|
Can you link to source. I'm in the very same situation.
|
|
|
|
I started using computers in the 90s, my parents about 5 years later than me. I built a computer for my dad, at the time it ran Windows 2000, and I was already looking at Linux. I couldn't switch my dad to Linux because his favourite game (DX-Ball) didn't run and he didn't like lbreakout2 or the other alternative, so I made a DX-Ball clone, when that was done, I switched his PC to Linux. Having Linux on my parents computers made my life so much easier, I have automated backup running when they log in, the desktop only have relevant icons and they don't know their passwords so they can't sudo or do anything by mistake. If a file is deleted by accident, there's 2 months of zfs snapshots to go through (I do that if they ask). Phone, well, my mom has an android phone, no credit card attached, and I keep her google account password for her so she's not able to do anything too bad by accident.
|
|
|
|
Consider setting up Screen Time too. My Mum spends literally hours each day on Facebook and Amazon. It's easy for the elderly to get addicted to Facebook and shopping when there isn't much else to do
|
|
|
|
I got sick of repairing and rebuilding my in-laws windows PC about 7 years ago and moved them over to the largest ipads that were available at the time. It was 100% the right move. I haven't had to fix their computer in the past 7 years. Bought refurbs to keep the price down but it was still a couple grand total for two units. I got the cell enabled ones too so they work when they travel. Totally worth it. A couple years ago I finally got them to switch from their pre-paid flip phone to an iphone. That's also gone extremely well. They own a Thor RV which (no surprise) has a terrible OEM stereo. Replaced that with a carplay capable one with a giant (but pretty low res) screen and that's made their RV travel GPS integration far less buggy than when using plain old bluetooth. TBH moving them to iOS from windows was far less of a painful process than I expected and I'm pretty apple positive. The fact that it just works and they really can't 'f it up makes a big difference. Now they can download all sorts of shit games and I really don't have to worry about the system getting hosed. If I considered how much I value my time and the frustration multiplier then it's an investment that has easily paid back in multiples.
|
|
|
|
I’ve had great success with Bluefin OS. It’s immutable, updates itself flawlessly and automatically, but is still easy to install and remove apps on. Show them where the Firefox button is and you’re done. Plus, it’ll run great on a 2013 Dell Optiplex, or whatever else is lying around.
|
|
|
|
Lots of good suggestions here but I have a comment. My 90 year old uncle lives near me so I can pop round and help with problems. Trouble is mostly bad UI on web sites. - finding the login button - cookie/consent popups blocking page and causing confusion (especially those that dim entire web page). - finding the close button ("x") on the above - dynamic UI surprises and confuses basic usage This week he tried to login to a finance web site from an email they sent him. The only links on the web site were twitter and facebook (UI icons). No actual links to their site, so he failed to login. He was trying to login to their Facebook site using the web site credentials. The internet/web is very poorly designed for many oldies (and not just them). Lastly, if they're messing up settings or deleting things, it just needs to be locked down. Tough but better than broken.
|
|
|
|
I refuse to do tech support for relatives. It's like getting into any other kind of business with them: a bad idea. If they want a computer, they deal with the fallout when they screw it up. The most I'll do if they ask about technology is is ask "what do you want to do with it" and the answer will almost certainly be iPad or Chromebook.
|
|
|
|
ChromeBooks are great for this since all they really need is a web browser.
|
|
|
|
Just for fun I installed ChromeOS Flex on an old Lenovo laptop. Installation was a breeze, and ChromeOS seems quite snappy. The number of possible settings are pretty minimal -- connecting to your local WiFi and logging into your Google account may be the only setup needed. Also, ChromeOS doesn't come pre-loaded with tons of obnoxious crap-ware.
|
|
|
|
Accessibility features are really bad though. Given their market is old people and kids, I was shocked at how bad it was when I tried to help my dad set his up to work better for him. I’d just assumed they’d at least be close to Apple operating systems.
|
|
|
|
First time I hear of this issue. Which aspects are bad?
|
|
|
|
Hands down Apple products. They all work together well, last a good long time, and have good software coverage. iPads are the best for those that just need the internet. The MacBook Air is good enough for the advanced stuff, and reasonably priced. Roku is the one product that I don't think needs the Apple replacement. It is super simple to use, has a simple remote, was easy to tie into a sound system for them. They liked Roku so much that they replaced their older EOL TVs with Roku TVs. Also, I'll lump Sonos into this as they make a great sound product that easily connects to the TV and auto comes on, which is fantastic.
|
|
|
|
seeing all the comments where people install Linux on their parents computers... Is this because it's hacker news, or is Linux becoming a non-crazy option for parents?
|
|
|
|
Linux is actually a great option for elderly people. They have very minimal needs, so they aren't going to run into limitations such as Windows-only software that they absolutely must use. With automatic updates the maintenance burden is minimal, and the risk of malware or viruses is almost non-existent.
|
|
|
|
I think this will not go down well here on HackerNews because I'm going to suggest sticking up to Apple. Here is my experience. I tried with cheaper phones that we can just replace when they lose, drop it, or many other reasons. Get them on iPhones, Macs, Apple TV, and iPads. They can be used ones or hand-me-downs, but that ecosystem works for them. Here is a setup for the in-laws. An Apple TV drives as the "Apple Home" Setup while an iPad (the backup) is mounted near the TV. That room/area is the "talking to the kids area" where they just know how to respond or start a video call. The only other button they learned was to switch between their favorite local cable provider and the Apple TV. It did take a lot of repeated practice from "I can see on the iPad but not TV" to "seeing and talking on the big TV". iPhones/Macs (instead of selling yours, give them your old one) are the easiest to set up and maintain. The contacts sync, and they have stopped complaining about getting back their phone contacts. The father-in-law once hand-wrote about a 5-paged A4 with about 200+ odd numbers and came to me to sync to the new phone. They are not losing their photos anymore and can spend hours browsing photos of their gigantic family members. Tip: Set up your Apple TV screensaver with a specific Album and keep sharing photos there. Now, watch the grandparents, grand-everyone just sit in front of the screensaver and spend hours talking, laughing, arguing, crying, and sleeping off.
|
|
|
|
My issue is that I don't know how to avoid the apple password never getting in the way (fail them cause account lockdown). Is it possible to totally restrict access to settings/password entering in iPad?
|
|
|
|
|
LOL! So, this used to happen a lot when the kids wanted to play with the grandparents phones. So, I explain nicely to everyone that the devices are out of bounds for everyone and no-one touches the devices any more. That solves that. However, on rare occasions, there are needs to enter the Apple password -- my wife have a few other cousins who helps out. For parents with no access to external help, I suggest printing out on a paper and keeping it safe (use a font-size large of a serif fonts). If your local language is not English, complex password but based off the local language are easier -- (in locale) my dear friend's NAME that died during WWII on this DATE, etc. ;-) Update: For cultural context and to avoid confusion with others around the world who have separate living spaces, my in-laws lives in a pretty large sprawl of almost a colony on their own with their brothers, sisters, cousins, and the entire families. On Google Maps, I had actually named the central home of that locality (my in-laws) to a specific name based on their family name -- making it easy for deliveries by post (Amazon, Post Office, Air Cargo deliveries, etc). In that part of the world, addresses are not precise and still goes on word of mouth.
|
|
|
|
My MIL has early dementia. We are trying to keep her living at home as long as possible but her mental decline has made it more and more difficult. Her behavior is getting more and more out of control. She has an iPhone she is attached to. She has YouTube on 24 hours a day. That and she uses FaceTime. Looking back, we should have gotten her an iPhone with a physical home button. Sometimes she forgets how to swipe away apps. In frustration she turns the phone off. Don’t get me started about all the scams. There is a not scammer she completely trusts and will argue non stop with my wife that my wife should listen to the scammer and sign over the house etc.
|
|
|
|
The home button is one of the most-brilliant pieces of design in computing, period. I’m still bitter that between ditching it and post-iOS6 software design changes they’ve made iOS devices so much less intuitive and friendly. It was like a little safety net for people who easily get “lost” in their computers. Which is most users! Watch non-nerds use a computer some time. God I miss that beautiful little button. What a step backwards.
|
|
|
|
|
Blast from the past, but might be useful. Sun tentatively made a computer that ran from cdrom, as TAILS does. The OS was immutable. You could store files on external media. Presumably, have those backed up in time-machine fashion, so as the be able to recover lost files, rather than a snapshot backup. What a struggle computers are. I am old as dirt but supposedly on top of things. Apple Mail.app forgot my sender address and kept asking me for a "hide my email" From: address. Being a propeller-head, I found it and fixed it. What a fright it must be when things go bonkers and you have no clue. I don't recall where user settings go on a cdrom OS. Perhaps on a separate home partition or overlay on removable RW storage. Can't speak for phones.
|
|
|
|
|
We have switched to chrome boxes and chrome books for our aging parents. It's not perfect, but at least they are less likely to get viruses or spyware, which was about every 6 months with Windows. What is it with older people and their penchant to install every possible crapware they encounter, no matter how strongly you warn them?
|
|
|
|
My grandma's pretty good with her Android phone, but every month, she calls us totally lost because apps like WhatsApp keep messing with the UI. Why do they have to change the interface so often? Most times, these changes seem pointless and just confuse her.
|
|
|
|
|
There is a huge market (IMO) for elderly/"boomer" support for all kinds of technologies. One thing that made me think about it was seeing an ad for a simple phone designed for seniors that includes "unlimited support" - actually I think it was this: https://www.lively.com/phones/jitterbug-smart4/Made me think of how many older people are out there who do not have a child or family member type "tech support" person who helps them out. There's millions of them out there. I think there's a large market for that.
|
|
|
|
It's even broader than tech support. For some reason, services and vendors for the elderly fall somewhere between clinical, patronizing and exploitative. Yet there's so much opportunity to help the elderly with independent living, e.g. accessible furniture and living spaces. I've found a grand total of one good vendor (Mobb) in home health care, with quality and pricing, plus a few original designs, with manufacturing in Taiwan. They may be a positive outlier because they are a subsidiary of a larger business selling medical uniforms. The challenge seems to be that most products for the elderly are designed for institutional buyers like nursing homes or state/national governments. So you have the usual misaligned incentives when the buyer is not the user (see: enterprise software).
|
|
|
|
Maybe try Windows S mode ? This is a locked down mode of Windows home edition where you can only install apps from MS store and there are many other restrictions that will prevent accidentally breaking your system.
|
|
|
|
I would just go for an iPad with, if necessary, MDM of some kind. With Stage Manager and an external monitor they're fully functional as pseudo-Macs at this point, as long as you don't need anything outside of the App Store.
|
|
|
|
I really wish there was a way to easily remote control my 104 old grandpa's smart TV... It's not as simple as you'd think
|
|
|
|
|
Definitely not. These timeout creating e-waste and are borderline useless.
|
|
|
|
I don't know what you're talking about. Chromebooks receive 10 years of updates.
|
|
|
|
Old people don’t need to care about e-waste, most computers will last longer than them.
|
|
|
|
|
To dedicate a device to one app, iOS/macOS has single-app / kiosk mode via Apple Configurator.
|
|
|
|
I use tailscale and ssh+RDP/vnc setup on all my machines. Makes maintaining them super easy.
|
|
|
|
iPad + explain how to use FaceTime which can do screensharing with the click of a button without installing anything. Could even use the shortcuts app to put a big „Call son“ button on the homescreen.
|
|
|
|
My parents are retired and not as computer literate as I hope, and they prefer to keep it that way. They have Apple products - iPhones, iPads and the Genius Bar takes great care of them.
|
|
|
|
That's what I did for my mom. She can poke her way around Windows, but she doesn't know how to do backups. Iphone/Ipad is easy. Automatic cloud backups. I bought her a new iphone, and she was delighted with the transfer of everything. I simply put them next to each other and poked a few bottons. 5 minutes later, all her stuff was moved over.
|
|
|
|
As a personal successful experiment: NixOS/Xfce o Gnome Shell (require a bit of extra work due to not really smart basic design and extensions fragility), basically the system read-only, home on zfs with snapshots ensure enough local data safety against accidental deletion/bad change. Keeping it up to date is just only updating the config when needed and rebuild. No commercial software so far offer anything as stable, no classic distro/OS can offer something as stable. About phones: a Motorola GSM desktop phone for some, a Punkt for those who accept&like a mobile device that's apt for seniors while not crappy as most "for seniors" crap.
|
|
|
|
Like so many other commenters here, buy them Apple. Macbook Airs to replace their PCs and iPhones to replace their phones. MacOS and iOS are specifically designed to be used by the average man, they're the right tool for this job. Also: Do not make them use Linux unless you want your time spent as tech support to increase. Just don't.
|
|
|
|
Android phones have some decent remote access tools, in addition to the mdm of android and iOS.
|
|
|
|
iOS also has screensharing through FaceTime which is great for cases like this.
|
|
|
|
Didn’t want to move away from Windows and Android so: - declutterred both to the greatest extent possible
- made sure auto updates were working
- installed Chrome Remote Desktop on the PC and a remote app on phone I might get 4-5 questions per year and when I visit I’ll make sure everything is working and updated Being able to remote in from 12,000 km away is a godsend. It’s usually some minor issue like a setting or update stuck.
|
|
|
|
I moved my mum over to iPad while she was still around. Best thing ever. Much easier to use for elderly people and it does absolutely everything she needed to do without the hassle of a full blown desktop OS.
|
|
|
|
iPad and iPhone. Much less to maintain than an Android phone and a desktop PC. Ask me how I know. ;@)
|
|
|
|
Honestly, quitting is an option. My Grandma gave up on email because it was frustrating, especially after her account got locked out thanks to Google’s weird security setup and her lack of recovery options. I was a bit upset about it at first. I wanted her to be connected to the family. I made her a new paid email managed by me. She didn’t want it. But it turns out, it’s not that hard to stay connected the old fashioned way. I send her photos in the mail with Shutterfly. I call her. I visit her. She doesn’t really need a computer for anything. The finances are handled by the family now, but before that she’d just walk into the bank branch or brokerage office. I might argue that they are a little closer to not being independent than you think. Still, some of the advice around here could help. Definitely use mobile device management. Migrate to iPad or Chromebook style devices rather than a full operating system. Take airplane mode out of the control center. Remove all the options they shouldn’t touch. Explore the accessibility options, set the text size and cursors big enough.
|
|
