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Ask HN: How to manage phones and PCs for elderly parents?

• m463 2y ago
  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?
  • joelthelion 2y ago
    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.
  • Tom4hawk 2y ago
    You can also ensure that not many things change over time. My parents have been using Linux for over 15 years and they love it. Mate looks basically the same, as do most of the applications they use (file manager, image viewer, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.). There's no strange software required for their Brother printer/scanner and nothing suddenly appears with each update.
• sexniggamc 2y ago
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• sexniggamc 2y ago
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• metta2uall 2y ago
  A problem I had was my grandma's phone battery running out. I made a little Android app that sent the battery level to an API which then put it into a storage bucket so I could see it remotely.
• welzel 2y ago
  It is amazing to see that the recommendation "put them on Apple, enable parent control, it just works" is countered with an argument from an Android user who does not understand the point: using Apple vs. Android / Windows is about how the product make you feel. Hypothesis: Android UX is more inconsistent compared to IOS and some inexperienced users get anxiety because of that. Hypothesis: on Android and Windows it is much simply to get maleware etc. then on Apple, because Apple can be closed down completly (and this is great!) Hypothesis: on Android and Windows you can damage the account/system very easily with a non-admin User, on Apple this is much less likely Hypothesis: on Android and Windows the amount of admin work needed to keep the device alive is much higher then on Apple
• lgboim4 2y ago
  Voice-Activated Assistant App Hi everyone, I am considering developing an app, which the adult can activate using voice, it will take a picture of his screen and know the details of the device, and help him in context using voice. For example, if he can't find something in the settings, he can say "Hi Pal", and the application will appear, "I want to increase the brightness of my screen" and then step by step it will lead him on the specific device to finish the task. It may be complex to develop, but it seems to me that there is a lot of need for it. There seems to be a lot of relevant people here. Do you think this app would be helpful? Do you have any suggestions or feedback on the concept? Thank you for your time and insights!
• k310 2y ago
  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.
  • breadwinner 2y ago
    > Sun tentatively made a computer that ran from cdrom You mean the NC [1]? ChromeBooks are the modern version of NC. [1] https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/mcnealy-sees-huge-nc-growth/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/mcnealy-sees-huge-nc...
• al_borland 2y ago
  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-up-assistive-access-devcd5016d31/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-...
  • brundolf 2y ago
    > I think the only thing better would be some kind of immutable OS Simple, just set them up with NixOS ;)
  • smackeyacky 2y ago
    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.)
    • youainti 2y ago
• breadwinner 2y ago
  ChromeBooks are great for this since all they really need is a web browser.
  • analog31 2y ago
    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.
  • vundercind 2y ago
    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.
    • tommiegannert 2y ago
      First time I hear of this issue. Which aspects are bad?
• ninju 2y ago
  A Chromebook a good option.
  • mynameisnoone 2y ago
    Definitely not. These timeout creating e-waste and are borderline useless.
    • dangus 2y ago
      Old people don’t need to care about e-waste, most computers will last longer than them.
      • stacktrust 2y ago
        > most computers will last longer than them With a life expectancy of 80, there's 15 years from 65-80. Chromebook lifetime: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366 https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366
    • nolist_policy 2y ago
      I don't know what you're talking about. Chromebooks receive 10 years of updates.
• userbinator 2y ago
  If you're looking for an easy way to restore Windows to a known-working state, this might be useful: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise/customize/unified-write-filter https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise...
• rawgabbit 2y ago
  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.
  • vundercind 2y ago
    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.
    • RGamma 2y ago
      iPhone SE has them still.
    • wruza 2y ago
      Also the borders. My grandma simply cannot avoid touching the screen while showing me something. “Oh, it disappeared”. Borderless devices require very specific, unnatural palm motorics to handle. Also, when choosing my phone I was between 13 mini and se2. I got se2 and my buddy 13 mini. Our every interaction in telegram ended with <buddy recording audio>, because to swipe away an app you have to squeeze your phone in palm, which touches all sorts of borders. I want to shame everyone “borderless” designer out there, you suck.
    • wpm 2y ago
      Yup I replaced the battery in my old XS and gave it to my mom as an upgrade from her aged 7 or whatever. She hated the swipe gestures and still complains about them. Should'a just bought her an SE.
• aledalgrande 2y ago
  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.
  • rl3 2y ago
    >Drop some water on it? It's fine. Careful. I did this to my Magic Keyboard recently. $350 later..
    • aledalgrande 2y ago
      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.
      • rl3 2y ago
        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.
        • vuln 2y ago
          Costly assumption.
  • dangus 2y ago
    You can also put iPads in MDM software and manage them remotely very easily.
    • wanderingstan 2y ago
• vishalontheline 2y ago
  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.
  • AmVess 2y ago
    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.
• apimade 2y ago
  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/assigned-access/overview 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).
• ulfw 2y ago
  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.
  • mynameisnoone 2y ago
    iPad and iPhone. Much less to maintain than an Android phone and a desktop PC. Ask me how I know. ;@)
• JSR_FDED 2y ago
  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.
  • glaucon 2y ago
    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.
    • NaOH 2y ago
      If your wife is in the Apple world this MacWorld article gives a good overview of the options. https://www.macworld.com/article/672451/how-to-share-screens-on-mac-ipad-iphone.html https://www.macworld.com/article/672451/how-to-share-screens...
    • sneusse 2y ago
      Well, AnyDesk allows screen sharing from i-Devices, not sure about remote control though.
    • duskwuff 2y ago
      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 https://support.apple.com/en-us/109365
  • polishdude20 2y ago
    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.
• crooked-v 2y ago
  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.
• gibbonsrcool 2y ago
  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.
  • worthless-trash 2y ago
    Can you link to source. I'm in the very same situation.
    • gibbonsrcool 2y ago
      Sure, I made the repo public: https://github.com/gvbl/TextAPic https://github.com/gvbl/TextAPic I don't believe the app works any more, something has changed and I haven't investigated. I hope it's still useful for you!
  • youainti 2y ago
    Would you be open to putting it on F-Droid or something like that?
    • gibbonsrcool 2y ago
      After doing some Android freelance recently and having a clients Play Store account get shut down because they forgot one of the requirements imposed by Google I’m done with Android, and hopefully can free myself from Google services completely.
  • princevegeta89 2y ago
    Fuck Google for asking to always sign in to Google accounts for everything and tying up shit together.
• ankurdhama 2y ago
  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.
• dangus 2y ago
  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.
• lanthade 2y ago
  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.
• bsuvc 2y ago
  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?
• SoftTalker 2y ago
  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.
• milkthefat 2y ago
  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.
  • dntrkv 2y ago
    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…
    • mike503 2y ago
      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.
    • raihansaputra 2y ago
      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.
    • matthewtse 2y ago
      Yes. Installed a Brother printer myself the other day, was expecting a half-day affair, but it all just worked in 5 minutes. Contrast this with an HP printer I bought. I had to: - manually install sketchy HP software on my mac - use that sketchy software, through a USB cable to update the firmware on the HP printer - somehow figure out how to get the HP printer to connect to Wifi - get it working, and never touch it again
• Brajeshwar 2y ago
  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.
  • mamcx 2y ago
    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?
    • Brajeshwar 2y ago
      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.
• stacktrust 2y ago
  To dedicate a device to one app, iOS/macOS has single-app / kiosk mode via Apple Configurator.
• asciimov 2y ago
  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.
• refurb 2y ago
  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.
• blackoil 2y ago
  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.
  • psandor 2y ago
    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.
    • blackoil 2y ago
      I would never recommend something like iPad. I feel psychologically it makes you a passive consumer, while something like Mac/Win is more action oriented.
      • nemomarx 2y ago
        Is that a problem for the elderly?
      • elchief 2y ago
        do your parents write a lot of code?
  • elchief 2y ago
    > Simply creating a non-admin account tried that on my father's computer, and he decided it was "broken", so took it into a shop to get re-installed...
• TomJansen 2y ago
  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.
• dpacmittal 2y ago
  I use tailscale and ssh+RDP/vnc setup on all my machines. Makes maintaining them super easy.
• sherr 2y ago
  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.
• pkulak 2y ago
  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.
• j45 2y ago
  Android phones have some decent remote access tools, in addition to the mdm of android and iOS.
  • dewey 2y ago
    iOS also has screensharing through FaceTime which is great for cases like this.
• relyks 2y ago
  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
• t312227 2y ago
  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€
• dewey 2y ago
  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.
• Dalewyn 2y ago
  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.
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    I bought an iPad Pro 12.9 1st Gen. recently. It costed $150-ish and I’m very happy what I got for the price. So I’m considering to upgrade everyone to used iPad Pros. Most people don’t need a desktop operating system these days. The 1st Gen. iPad Pro won’t get past iPadOS 16, while the current is 17. But I believe it won’t be a problem for the next 5 to 10 years, which is plenty considering the price tag. However, with Linux it’s much better software-wise: if you have relatively recent hardware, your support would be literally indefinite. I use 15 years old hardware and I can believe it would serve another 15 easily.
• mike503 2y ago
  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/ 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.
  • stacktrust 2y ago
    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).
• kkfx 2y ago
  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.
• dusted 2y ago
  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.
  • curt15 2y ago
    >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. That's awesome!
    • walteweiss 2y ago
      Yeah, that’s my favourite part as well! So inspiring and cool! Yet, actually, could be not a super difficult thing to do (if you’re able to do that), and worth investing your time into.
• weevil 2y ago
  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.
  • ryandrake 2y ago
    > 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.
    • deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    • verinus 2y ago
      You fail to understand how software development and maintenance works. OFC you need an updated system that has all known security holes fixed to run homebanking apps. Also, as a dev I would only support one config and not a myriad of different devices and operating system versions (APIs). Livelong. For 3$ purchase price. On all devices. For the whole family. And imho Apple devices are supported much longer than most Android ones...
• seldomcomment 2y ago
  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 https://www.faronics.com/es/products/deep-freeze
  • awelxtr 2y ago
    Deepfreeze was a staple of cybercafés in the 90s and 00s
• silisili 2y ago
  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.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  • wolverine876 2y ago
    Another advantage of Apple devices is consistancy of UI from device to device (all iPhones work the same), and from form factor to form factor (iPhones to iPads and even to workstations, to a degree). When they get a new phone, it works like their prior one.
  • exodust 2y ago
    I would downvote but the option has been removed. The OP doesn't mention brand. Their parents may already have iPhone. The only phone issue mentioned is airplane mode, so it wouldn't make a difference. Android phones have an "Easy Mode" which improves usability for seniors and anyone who prefers bigger buttons and simpler controls. I would expect enabling this may help.
  • jimmytehbanana 2y ago
    Having worked for a large app development consultancy that did parity between Apple and Android apps, the Apple vetting progress was rigorous and would often reject apps based on UX. While a pain, the result compares in comparison to what is on the Android App Store. I did use to own an Android and switched to an Apple. I found that Apple products are more intuitive in their UX and setup (or really anything that was complicated to do on Android) just worked on Apple.
  • kqr 2y ago
• agile-gift0262 2y ago
  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.
  • Moru 2y ago
    Not only older people. Already since the beginning of computers there have been changes just for changes sake in everything. My theory at that time was that the changes were done so they could sell new education courses for companies every time they upgraded the software. Now sometimes I have to google how to do things that should be very simple even in Windows or Android but now the setting is hidden to not confuse people...
• jl6 2y ago
  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.
• switch007 2y ago
  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
• Sammi 2y ago
  Step 1: https://ublockorigin.com/ https://ublockorigin.com/
• sturza 2y ago
  I got 2 Chromebooks 8-10y ago and never looked back. No maintenance calls, ever.
• RNAlfons 2y ago
  Linux Mint. I moved my parents to it from Windows and they never realised since they only use Thunderbird and Firefox. Never had any issues since then.
• anonzzzies 2y ago
  I moved them to android (Samsung) tablets: never had any issues. I moved some elderly friends in my village to Ubuntu without root pass and Tailscale so I can login. Also zero maintenance/issues. The only times when I get questions is Windows Home with the administrator account and ‘everything’ being generally ‘not working’ after ‘an update’. Sigh.
• swiftcoder 2y ago
  Aside from the many excellent suggestions about how to mange the devices themselves, I'd highly recommend putting a pihole on the whole wifi network. I added a pihole to my home network via a <$100 NUC (very much overkill for this purpose), and the rate of my relatives falling for weird viruses and scams has gone way down.
• rscho 2y ago
  I went all out for my gramp's PC: - Linux Debian with default user privileges - XFCE kiosk mode with everything as shortcut icons (that can't be deleted) + removed all UI access to everything else - Monthly Borg save of the /home dir - X2Go for screen sharing when assistance required So that's the great thing with Linux: you can make it look exactly how you want (huge icons, etc.), and you basically just save the /home dir to save the "state" for the user. Downside is that config is a lot of work.
  • javajosh 2y ago
    >Downside is that config is a lot of work. Consider sharing the work as open source. I think that too often people think of "mere configs" as something less than programming, not valuable and not worth sharing, when they are in fact really valuable. Not just the configs, but the curation, too. If such a project caught on, I bet others would pitch in to smooth down the rough edges. In fact, it might be nice to merge and/or utilize a recovery distribution to restore such a configuration in the event of an issue.
  • 0xedd 2y ago
    Had to scroll far too long for this. In one relative's case with an old laptop, I installed some light distro, Firefox with an ad-block and it's been stable for a few years. She only browses a few favorite sites. Other's infatuation with Apple's overpriced *nix boxes is a true testament to Apple's marketing department. Pay more for less. We can't spend so many thousands every few years.
• xhevahir 2y ago
  Everybody's suggesting changing to Apple or Chrome products, which sounds like a good idea to me. With my parents, who are 80 and having an increasingly hard time using technology, I have the added complication that my dad (who is the acknowledged tech guy in their marriage and who probably has OCD) absolutely hates everything Apple, and, now that he in turn manages his 90-year-old sister's use of her Chromebook, is dead set against getting a ChromeOS device either.
• Refusing23 2y ago
  My mother needed a laptop for managing the finances of some little club So she asked me what to get within a limited budget - a windows laptop. I set it up with firefox, ublock origin etc. removed all the bloat. and for helping her with whatever, on the computer, i installed Rustdesk. It has a super simple ui so you can get the password over the phone - then i can login and manage her computer from my own computer. (Rustdesk is free and opensource remote desktop and file sharing program) as for phone.. my mother uses a samsung smartphone. Its what she's used to. So i have also installed Firefox on there, with ublock origin and ... thats really all i needed to do. She can login to her email or whatever other apps she uses, by herself. My mother is 71. Not a complete tech idiot but also not really experienced with anything other than regular office-use (email, notes, managing a calendar) i chose android for her phone because i know it better - and ads... oh god i hate ads. Thank god for firefox and ublock origin. as for my grandmother who's over 100 years old... she has a landline. And thats it.
• uyzstvqs 2y ago
  You don't need Intune, that's a fancy cloud thing to manage lots of machines. You can manage permissions on a local machine using Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr). Also get either uBlock Origin or Brave Browser with shields.
• dvdkon 2y ago
  I set up Linux desktops for elderly relatives who wanted tech support, to universal satisfaction. They seem to not have many issues, since I get fewer than 5 support calls a year total, and I'm an experienced Linux user so fixing anything that does come up is usually easy (<1 of those is actually OS related, they're mostly questions like "how do I do X in LibreOffice again?" or "I got this scam email..."). It's also nice that the DEs I chose are relatively stable, not forcing them to keep up with changes. Running well on old and cheap hardware is also a plus, I couldn't convince anyone to buy a new or even used iMac (and wouldn't want to do that anyway, macOS is far from bug free...). That said, none of them have self-destructive tendencies and I don't expect to just give them a device and have them set it up themselves.
  • rsolva 2y ago
    I have had a great time using Fedora for family members for years! Fedora on a Lenovo laptop has made my OS-related support calls plummet to zero, basically. I check their laptop once or twice a year (during holidays) to upgrade to the latest release. I spent a few hours setting up Firefox with an uBlock and set up an email client, and that was it. There was an awkward period where Wayland made screen sharing difficult, but switching to X made TeamViewer work again. From Fedora 39, I switched to using the built-in remote desktop function (RDP) + an always-on Wireguard connection, which makes screen sharing so smooth when I occasionally need to help with non-OS related challenges. This can also be used for SSH access, or whatever. I recently went with Fedora Silverblue for another relative, which makes everything stay up to date without them noticing. So far it has worked fine, but installing the printer driver was a bit different than usual – but not a problem. EDIT: Prior experiences has been primarily with macOS, and it has been a lot of trouble adjusting it to their needs and preferences.
    • curt15 2y ago
      I second the Silverblue suggestion. With its image-based updates and read-only rootfs, it's the Linux distro most akin to ChromeOS.
  • dotancohen 2y ago
    I second the Linux recommendation. KDE has a desktop lockdown mode, and if that is not enough there is also a kiosk mode. It's better than foolproof - it is absolutely designed to enable secure, limited access to specific applications.
• Baguette5242 2y ago
  If it is mainly for web-browsing, then Linux Mint, with only a web-browser (uBlock extension), and an Office suite. How can you go wrong with that ? It depends on the usage of course. If there's a need to manage pictures from the phone, some music etc... then Mac OS with non admin account. Buy a 1 To external hard drive and setup Time Machine, you can't go wrong with that neither.
• yourusername 2y ago
  How are they removing system files when the machine is locked down? If you do not grant them local admin permissions and properly configure windows defender and remoting software that should be your solution. You can make the WiFi connection automatic/mandatory with local policies. I have to suggest the "locking down" part was not done properly or at all if a user was able to remove system files.
• davidthewatson 2y ago
  I'm saddened by the responses here. It's not older users' fault. Design teams at leading tech companies have gotten a free pass for designing mcmansions in software without realizing that kids weren't the only generation being damaged when we designed this mess. My only hope now is that a Jonathan Haidt and Tristan Harris arise from the ashes to protect the elderly without blaming them for software design mistakes arising over the last 3 decades that could have been avoided. Finance paved the way for abuse of the elderly. Sadly, big tech has picked up that torch and run with it.
  • thepuppet33r 2y ago
    Agreed. It's also both amusing and saddening to see the iOS/Windows/Android fanboys duking it out. Some good ideas in this thread, though. I'll curate a list of recommendations and provide it to him and hopefully he can undo some of the negative patterns their systems keep forcing on them.
    • davidthewatson 2y ago
      Thanks for your reply. I carry a Pixel in one pocket and an iPhone in the other while lamenting the two decades since the deprecation of my Sidekick. Much like the discussion about older users here, it's tragic that we can't learn anything outside Apple Park from the SE or the mini showing the path to light and fast form factors. I know I'm not alone there as all my friends made the same half-deprecated choices. A decade later, it's hard to blame Samsung for the Galaxy Note being so successful, particularly for older users who don't have my Coke bottle bifocals now that the entire Android market followed suit, even if they were a little late to the party.
• navane 2y ago
  I used team viewer in the past, for trouble shooting. I had it all setup so I could join in one click. But then they updated team viewer and everyone need accounts etc, so the solution became part of the problem and I ditched it. Nowadays, windows has "quick assist", which works flawlessly to help one windows user as another. Seeing your elders, who used to be fine with desktop computing, slowly struggling more and more because UX "developers" are a fucking joke is infuriating.
  • timbit42 2y ago
    There is also RustDesk which works on Windows but also Mac, Android, and Linux.
• lifeisstillgood 2y ago
  I think there is a “common repository of knowledge and tools” missing. I expect there is some dodgy company selling this as a “manage your older parents” app. BUt really this is a social thing. As is “how do I set up a openwrt router to replace my crappy ISP” and “what’s the best way to handle time on YouTube with my 11 year old” and a hundred similar problems that really matter to people Some of this will be informed by scientific studies - ut these will be easier to do by using the phones themselves. Imagine a double blind study on YouTube habits for 9 year olds, where the researcher gets to download history and run weekly surveys with parents in behaviour etc etc I am not too sure where I am going but there is as always a missing third space here
• wiredfool 2y ago
  My current issue in this space is the win11/outlook transition, confusion about connecting all of their accounts with Microsoft online accounts, and new outlook simply not working with our imap setup. (Your imap username must be your email address, and our setup is not that) What’s the best classic old school imap email client for windows these days?
  • mackatsol 2y ago
    Thunderbird
• bradley13 2y ago
  My mother died a few years back, but my choice of OS was driven by finding someone who could give her local support. Telephone support just wasn't possible, because she was completely tech-illiterate and would get into some really strange situations, and get really impatient when I couldn't wave a magic wand through the phone connection. There was a retired gentleman in her area who made a hobby of helping other elderly folk. He used Apple, so she used Apple. If he'd used Windows, or Linux, or whatever - then that's what she would have used.
  • UncleEntity 2y ago
    > There was a retired gentleman in her area who made a hobby of helping other elderly folk. Kudos to that guy. My mom is pretty good at figuring things out, she would sometimes ask me to help and if I couldn't figure it out (mostly because I've been using linux since the Windows ME shitshow) she would poke at it until it was fixed. She also has a couple embroidering machines and a crazy robo-sewing machine she likes to use so is motivated to do stuff on her own. My step-dad... he took a windows class through his work before he retired in the 90's and likes to break thing in fun and exciting ways, almost always wifi for some reason. Then my mom will look at it until he pisses her off and he has to go without a laptop until either myself or my bro-in-law visits and he 'allows' us to fix it. It would be tragic if my mom didn't find it amusing TBH. Now they have some sort of tech support that remotes into the machines when my step dad gets to fiddling. I made sure it wasn't one of those scams and they seem to be happy bickering about who does the grocery shopping instead of PCs so all's well in the household.
• teeray 2y ago
  Not PCs, but I consider my parents’ network an extension of mine (with their consent, of course). They are on Unifi gear that I can completely remotely manage.
• lovegrenoble 2y ago
  Nokia, that's all
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• arnaudsm 2y ago
  The elderly are the most susceptible to falling into dark patterns, and most commercial software nowadays is full of them. Windows 11 was the last straw, I ended up moving my grandma to Gnome. And I control her desktop remotely whenever she needs help. Also smartphones are too cumbersome after a certain age, when you have subpar reaction time and large fingers.
  • Loughla 2y ago
    Mint is great for the elderly as well. It's Windows lite, but random .exe's won't work. And the file system is different enough they won't poke around in there.
• smohnot 2y ago
  Semi-relatedly, I had my parents sign up for https://www.charlie.com/ https://www.charlie.com/ There are a bunch of great anti-fraud features including one that lets me be a co-pilot on their account. Some features: it doesn't allow transactions while they are asleep, can block all transactions online except for merchants that you allow, limit international spend, and they have a feature that you can forward any email that you are curious about and it'll tell you if it's likely to be fraud. highly recommend.
  • hiatus 2y ago
    I've seen you mention charlie in other forums including linkedin. Do you have any affiliation with them?
• onion2k 2y ago
  check their stocks Old people should sell their investments and enjoy themselves more. That's the whole point of investments.
• le-mark 2y ago
  Don’t, let them pay for support like a normal person. “I work with servers not phones/pcs”. Cruel? Maybe but so is their taking advantage of their tech literate family. We actually have a local shop that does really good work. If more tech people refused to do free tech support, this could be a thriving niche (and put geek squad out of business).
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    The issue with the businesses like that is that they can easily scam tech illiterate people. My mom paid $50 for a person who literally did nothing. She had some error with the motherboard asking to press F1 or something. He did that, did some dust cleaning pretending and that was it. The computer booted, he saw Linux, told it’s some complicated setup (it’s not, a basically default Gnome system). Told her it’s some server system there and his job was done. I was furious she didn’t ask me in the first place. Not to say she could Fking just read what the computer asked her to do.
• WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  Sigh. I'm a career IT guy; this is yet another thing I'll want to preplan and have ready for my kids.
  • bluehatbrit 2y ago
    Given the rate of change, for both UX and scams, I think it's probably best not to pre-plan. There's a very high chance you won't be able to predict the way you'll need to interact with technology in the future. Knowing how stubborn people get as they age, it's likely better to make sure your kids are generally tech savvy and find ways to learn to trust them as you get older. They'll be better placed to keep up with everything and figure out the best path forward when we're old stubborn gits!
    • WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
      > I think it's probably best not to pre-plan. There's a very high chance you won't be able to predict the way you'll need to interact with technology in the future. Well, one assumes I'll be cognizant of UX & scams until I'm not. Perhaps by then those 2 will have so much overlap it'll be just one thing to know. What I wouldn't assume is that my needy future is decades away. It might not be.
• user070223 2y ago
  Not for managing phone, but I highly recommend https://baldphone.com/ https://baldphone.com/ as Android UI/skin for elderly
• epc 2y ago
  I moved my MIL to the Apple ecosystem circa 2009-2010 and have mostly been satisfied. She has a normal (not admin) user account on her Mac. She cannot install applications*. Her Documents folder is synced to iCloud. Everything is backed up with Time Machine, and for good measure I rsync her home directory to my own backup periodically. She uses a locked down Google Worksplace account (this cost more since we pay for one admin account and her restricted account). She can access everything from her iPhone and her iPads. Surprises: some applications can be downloaded and will install themselves into ~/Applications, these usually are the thousand or so zoom/webex/webmeetinggo variants. Initially we did not lock down her Google Chrome and she kept installing "Extensions that will speed up your browser experience!" which of course were scams, so we locked her out of installing Chrome Extensions (this has made it difficult to legitimately install chrome extensions unfortunately). She has, through what I'm guessing were bad UI questions for someone now in her 80s, wiped out her Documents folder multiple times, syncing the deletions to her iCloud. Minimal actual loss since thanks to my paranoid backup strategies. Hard: she's been using Macs on and off since the 1990s. Each new recent release of MacOS or iOS has become a bit of a nightmare. While I get the relentless need to upgrade and improve and sell more widgets I really wish there was an LTS strategy we could opt into that was just security or sev 1 style bug fixes. Really hard: I fell into this because every time she went into an Apple Store or tech shop for support they 1) would ask her what her Apple ID was and then just go off and create another one for her anyway. I found six before I got her to understand it's just her email address. 2) Every tech guy has his own way of doing shit, myself included, and it's utterly baffling to someone who simultaneously has been using computers for decades and yet is very much non technical. She's in her mid 80s now, I think we're on her last MacBook Air, which I just moved her to in the past year or so. The next upgrade, if necessary, is probably to a Chromebook.
  • greggsy 2y ago
    > I really wish there was an LTS strategy IMO, macOS is the only consumer LTS desktop around these days. Windows UX is going a million miles a minute with new Copilot junk every other day, intrusive widgets, and an exceedingly unpleasant browsing experience with shopping, coupons, MSN and more Copilot. Edit: forgot ChromeOS. It’s a proper mainstream LTS desktop.
  • 2y ago
• hpen 2y ago
  It's obvious that you're on Android + PC because these is truly an outdated question.
• interestica 2y ago
  MacOS + TimeMachine + iPhone/iPad + Chrome/Google + Chrome Remote Desktop is my 'elderly stack'
• bcx 2y ago
  Have you considered chromeOS for the pc, I’ve had pretty good luck with it as an is for kids, and you can lock a lot down with family controls
• thekevan 2y ago
  I live this every week. I regularly get calls from my dad about a phone, computer or tablet that is not working right. When I address it, it is always either he is using it incorrectly or we can't reproduce the error a second time--which usually means he wasn't using it correctly. One thing that has helped is getting him better with voice instructions on his iPhone and Amazon tablet. When he messes up the device by clicking on something, he doesn't know where to tap to fix it but he can tell it to do so verbally. That has reduced the amount of tech support calls. I also have Team Viewer installed and set up so I can just remote into their computer. I had to delete the shortcuts for Edge (and IE when it was there) because they are more likely to download a searchbar or something than they are with Firefox.
• mysteria 2y ago
  If you have the local infrastructure for it (or do it on cloud) VDI is an option. It's easy to snapshot, backup, and reimage, and if you store their files on a network drive a reimage won't affect it. You can also easily remotely access their machines to install software and inspect the machine, and you'll be doing so anyways as they shouldn't have root privileges. VDI can be usably fast even with no GPU; for instance with a 8GBx8vCPU instance on an Ivy Bridge server I can actually watch 1080p Youtube with no frame drops.
• klinquist 2y ago
  One thing I didn't see mentioned, assuming you're all on Apple devices: Add your parents as "children" to your iCloud account. That'll let you restrict access to things and reset their password if necessary.
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    Well, that’s a beautiful irony of life.
• jszymborski 2y ago
  For PC, I have a relied on ancient Acer Chromebooks for my family and it's worked amazingly. Only trouble they get into is accepting spammy Web Notification prompts. If I had to get them a PC that wasn't a Chromebook, I'd consider VanillaOS or some other immutable distro. https://vanillaos.org/ https://vanillaos.org/ EDIT: Oh, and uBlock Origin is essential.
• walteweiss 2y ago
  Fedora Silverlight for PC. Or ChromeOS Flex, if you need only the browser. Basically zero maintenance system. iPad and iPhone for mobile devices, they just work. I think slightly outdated devices are the best: they still very good, are cheap and won’t attack with the updates. These days I would say it’s iPhones 6S or 7, and iPad Air 2 or even iPad Pro 12.9 (1st Gen.). They are very cheap, still support all of the basic apps and are very good for anyone. Even I myself use the devices from that epic till today.
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    Meant Silverblue, but was writing from the phone and so it happened to be Silverlight. Cannot edit the original comment, hence I’m adding this note.
• Diederich 2y ago
  It's going to be super interesting when millions of my fellow tech-savvy gen-Xers get really old.
• asow92 2y ago
  Chromeos flex could be worth looking at, and depending on the build of their old machine, they may not need to buy a new computer at all. CPU, RAM, and SSD upgrades could help if it's 15+ years old though. I recently did this to my family's old 20" 2007 iMac and it's perfectly adequate for light web browsing, email, and youtube. Not too shabby for a 17 year old computer. The best part is that it's secure and easy to use for those less tech literate.
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    Yeah, that’s for me. And also, FYI you can unlock chromeOS with a Bluetooth device (e.g. a smartwatch, if they have one), so it’s easier to unblock. I haven’t found any decent alternative to entering a complicated Google account password.
• extr 2y ago
  This is the kind of stuff I do for my parents (early 70s): - They both have the same phone: iPhone 13, so we all have a shared context for how phones work. - Maintain Google Family/iCloud family subscriptions so they don't worry about storage or losing data. I do yearly in-person hard backups of their computers and phones (mostly photos). - Create them synthetic iCloud accounts with email addresses that are just aliases for my email. - Password managers + adblocking on everything. They don't know how to create passwords really but at least it autofills easily. - They use Eero router and I am the admin - so I can remotely check network status, restart it, etc (this is REALLY nifty - "internet is messed up" questions dropped 100% when I switched this over from a NetGear router). - Similarly, I set their router to NextDNS and block ads + threats for them.
  • walteweiss 2y ago
    I couldn’t quickly find what ‘synthetic iCloud account’ is, what do you mean by that? From the context it’s not very clear the difference with the regular iCloud account.
    • extr 2y ago
      Sorry, using the word synthetic made it sound more technical than it really is. It's a regular iCloud account. I just said "synthetic" to get across the point that the account is basically meaningless to them, they don't even know they have it, and it's confusing to even bring it up with them. The fact that the username is an email address, but it's not actually how they access that email, would lead to questions/issues for me personally. So I just set up single-purpose aliases in fastmail and own the accounts fully.
• techcode 2y ago
  Sounds like those parents would benefit from having a Chromebook? If they want to play games then SteamDeck or such Otherwise for phones, I just give my mum same/similar device to one I'm using (e.g. Motorola Moto G[number]). There's ~1800km in between us, so by using same or very similar device - I can hand hold her step by step. And actually phone is usually not a problem - it's the TV. In order to have good Internet we've switched her from cable (coax so TV tuner was same as last few decades) to fiber. With fiber, now TV is basically IPTV/SmartTV - and she just wants to turn it on and use +/- and digits for channels and volume.
  • nolist_policy 2y ago
    Chromebooks even have Steam nowadays. Oh and Android apps and games of course.
• fallat 2y ago
  VNC + Tailscale. I can VNC into their machines at any time and help them.
• Spooky23 2y ago
  iPad with the keyboard was transformative for my in laws. If they need a PC, a MacBook in user mode. Otherwise a MacBook without admin rights. Whatever beef people have with Apple, it’s a better solution for this scenario, period. When elders start struggling with these issues, it can make them feel helpless and fearful… avoiding that is both a technical solution issue and quality of life issue. Futzing around with Intune is a waste of time and requires upkeep. In most situations, you can leave an iPad in place for 4-6 years with no fiddling.
• icyberbullyu 2y ago
  We switched my grandmother-in-law over to Linux last year and the amount of support calls I've had to do has dropped to 0. All she does is use chrome to check her email, and occasionally edit a document. A majority of the time she phoned for me to come 'fix her computer' it was just a Windows update that had reset some setting, or was trying to get her to sign up for a Microsoft account before she could log in, or some other obnoxious crap that made her think that her computer was broken. We put her on Debian with Cinnamon as the DE, and downloaded a Windows 10 theme. We even put the Windows 10 logo as the start button. For her, she has 0 idea that she's even using Linux except for the fact that her computer doesn't randomly "break" anymore. All this with the added benefit that I can do remote support far more easily now. The other huge benefit is when other relatives come over and start poking and prodding, it's far harder for them to do any damage. A few times I needed to 'fix' things was because her 60 year-old son (who knows nothing about computers, but is a medical doctor so he must know what he's doing) would come over and install a bunch of scammy antivirus software, change a bunch of settings, then leave proclaiming that the problem was "fixed". Switching to Linux has helped at keeping his fingers out of the pot immensely.
• fckgw 2y ago
  I setup my parent's routers to use my NextDNS account and turned on adblock and scam/malware filtering. It has help cut down on a ton of issues they might have seen otherwise.
• flyinghamster 2y ago
  I am profoundly grateful that my dad (84) is still very healthy, mentally acute, and tech-literate enough to avoid scams. If anything, he's even more paranoid than I am. But he will have nothing to do with smartphones even though he's a long time gadget freak with an engineering background, and at this point my mom would have difficulty using anything other than a landline. I got them onto VoIP with an unlocked analog telephone adapter some years back when the poorly maintained landline (loud hum when plugged into the demarc) became too horrible to use. His frustrations with Windows 10 (and MS's irritating habit of "helpfully" changing your settings) are about to the boiling point, but there's a hell of a lot of Stockholm syndrome involved in getting him to use anything else, not to mention he still uses a DOS app via DOSbox. I'm not sure how insufferable Windows will need to get before he would be willing to jump ship. Windows 8 was enough for me, but only because I can do anything I personally need on any random Linux distro.
• aristofun 2y ago
  90 year old grandma test is the ultimate test of quality and usability of your software/hardware. Telling from experience - 99% of modern products don't even come close to passing the test. _Some_ of features of _some_ of apple products come close though.
• ingvar77 2y ago
  We keep all our parents on iPhone + iPad combo. All of them are very heavy iPad users, sometimes it seems they spend 90% of their time reading something in iPad. Honestly, we do not have any issues to resolve at all, everything just works. My wife’s father used to be moderate Excel user for his small business needs, it was a challenge to convince him to try Google Sheets / Docs as alternative but he switched over time.
• deeth_starr_v 2y ago
  I feel for them. I've got a backup image of wife's parents macbook air and ipad that I've had to use a few times. I was using remote desktop software but they once clicked a fullscreen "Your Computer is Infected" ad and followed "Apple Support's" instructions to download a new RD app and give them full control. Luckily the give full control dialog got lost behind the web scam fullscreen. I got rid of remote desktop apps and told them to never allow remote desktop apps again. I've come to the conclusion that any sort of banking or account tied to money is too much of a risk.
• hot_gril 2y ago
  Whatever kind of desktop is used, Chrome Remote Desktop is the most reliable way I've seen of connecting to deal with stuff. Better than Teamviewer too.
• RecycledEle 2y ago
  My wife has survived more than half a dozen strokes. She accidentally moves around the icons on her Pixel phone until we can not even bring back the list of all apps you get by swiping up. I need a way to lock down the icons so it would take a very coordinated person to unlock them, but Google refuses to allow that.
• n_ary 2y ago
  If possible, buy them an old iPhone 7/8/10/11. These are fairly cheap at this point and hard to brick or infect. For PC, just install ChromeOS Flex! It is super barebones and locked down, so even if they download stuff, it is hard to install anything and File Explorer does not give direct access to OS files. You can Turn On linux dev env and install some interesting applications using flatpak, which are adequate and still has limited access to everything unless they are savvy enough to go tinkering around with apt tools.
• d416 2y ago
  Tell your friend to call his parents more - Most parental ‘tech issues’ escalate as an excuse to see and talk to their children more, rather than the flash attention they usually need to settle for.