Game for a laugh?

[BOAC]

I am trying to help an 80 year old chairman of a local charity move into the 21st Century. He has a typewriter with no ribbon. A fax machine that does not seem to receive faxes. NO INTERNET access.

I have tried to persuade him to buy a laptop or similar but he remembers he bought a PC 10 years ago and took one look at it and put it in the attic. He wishes to use it and is 'talking' to BT about broadband.......................

So, ideas please. We need basic email, internet, word proc and a printer. As far as I can establish the PC was W2000. Given that the OS is no longer supported, would a 'free' AV (say Avast) and Open Office Write be sufficient? I assume he would have OE and IE on the W2000 machine. Since he is adamant there will be no other use, I cannot see infection/phishing etc or the lack of security patches as a problem? What say you all?

[green granite]

BT Yahoo mail is fine and works well and you don't need OE., you don't really need a word processor do you? Wouldn't Wordpad be sufficient as it does most simple things simply?

Certainly Avast (if you can find a version that will run with that OS)

[B2N2]

My mother 72 years old, bless her, has recently moved up from dial-up to broad band.
She has discovered Google and is actually using it a lot.
She'll see something on the news, google it and read more about it.
It has been a bit of a struggle to get her to understand not to open every email from unknown senders (" but they have send it to me, rude not to reply") and not to click on links promising discounts and free stuff.
So far so good.
Couple of years ago she was only using the computer to write a letter in word or send an email. Now she uses it as her window (no pun intended) to the world.
Don't underestimate how interested seniors are in the outside world.

[BOAC]

gg- don't use BT Yahoo, but if Mr Senior goes with BT broadband he obviously could. Is is web access mail to which you refer? I don't want to complicate things too much and thought OE might be simpler.

[mixture]

BOAC,

Since he is adamant there will be no other use, I cannot see infection/phishing etc or the lack of security patches as a problem? What say you all?

Are you being serious or just pulling our legs as part of the overall "game for a laugh ?" gist of this thread.

With all due respect. I would say.... don't be an idiot.

Apologies for being so blunt, but it is glaringly obvious the chap is not computer literate. Putting him infront of a computer that is connected to the internet and running an obsolete operating system is just asking for trouble, I don't care what extra gubbins you're planning to install for "security".... a system is as weak as its weakest link, and an obsolete version of Windows is a very weak link ! Plus its probably got no RAM and a slow Celeron, so adding a multitude of additional background processes is not going to help your cause.

Personally, as much as it tugs at the old heart strings about helping others etc.... I would walk away from the job unless you can get him to understand why a 10 year old machine won't cut it. Its going to be a very time consuming customer for you anyway, and obsolete hardware and software is only going to hinder you.

New computers are so cheap, and you can pick them up off eBay at the drop of the hat if you don't want to buy new.

Or if you're adamant you're not going to introduce him to the wonders of new hardware.... at least reformat the thing and stick your favourite Linux flavour on there.

[green granite]

gg- don't use BT Yahoo, but if Mr Senior goes with BT broadband he obviously could. Is is web access mail to which you refer? I don't want to complicate things too much and thought OE might be simpler.

Yes I use the web access mail from Yahoo, my home page is 'my Yahoo' home page which is set up with the functions in it I want and one of those functions is 'Yahoo mail preview' which automatically updates every time I go on line and shows what e-mails are in the inbox and to read them just click on them to open, you can set up folders to stash things into very easily.

[mike-wsm]

Get him an android table, currently eighty quid. Then he can leapfrog all that heritage stuff and get ahead fast.

Oldies (I'm one) like to relax in a comfortable armchair, a small tablet is ideal, and will do browsing, emails, shopping and lots more. Plus it is happy with a small amount of shelf space.

[BOAC]

I have tried to persuade him to buy a laptop or similar

Not my ball game. I have 'debated' Linux, as it happens. I suspect we will get this up and running and hit the buffers when .will be revisited.:)

[Milo Minderbinder]

two points
1) probably the only useable AV program you'll find which will work on Win2K and still get updates is Avast 4.7 (it has a BLUE logo, not the current orange one). Its hidden somewhere away on the Avast website. Its not officially supported, but is still there.

2) If you try browsing with Internet Explorer you'll hit problems as the newest version of IE that'll install is 6 - and that can't handle the scripting of modern sites and is very insecure.
From past experience I don't think the Yahoo website will work on IE6

Outllook Express would be better as a mail option. Simple and easy to understand

besides which you're going to have to install out of date versions of Flash and Java (both available, both insecure)

In essence I totally agree with mixture. Either junk this machine or put Linux on it. Even then you may find you have to increase the RAM in it.


edit
just to say there isn't an available up-to-date software firewall that will work with Win2K. Closest you'd get would be to manually edit the connection settings to act as filters......long time since I had to do it. IPChains from memory.....can anyone remember for sure?

[mad_jock]

Get one of the linux for idiots and fire that on it.

Then don't give him the root password.

Job sorted

[Saab Dastard]

Given that PPrune and several hundred thousand (or even millions) of other websites have been knocked out recently by a DDoS attack relying on botnets, I really, really don't want to see an unsupported, unpatched OS on a PC connected to the internet being operated by someone who clearly hasn't a clue (I don't mean you, BOAC).

You can't do much about the latter problem, but you can mitigate the former.

Something mainstream, current and more idiot-proof than a PC is indicated.

If not Linux on the PC, what about an iPad with a wifi printer, or an Apple computer?

My mother, in her seventies and a total technophobe, has recently been given an iPad and has taken to it like a duck to water for email and internet - and basic word processing capability (still better than a typewriter) can easily be added.

SD

[Milo Minderbinder]

Saab - so you think it was the GoDaddy DDOS issue ?

[BOAC]

Saab - see post #8. I do not 'control' this person.

As for "I really, really don't want to see an unsupported, unpatched OS on a PC connected to the internet being operated by someone who clearly hasn't a clue" - are you not a little late at the party?

[onetrack]

BOAC, you've got some talking to do. Mixture has nailed it. Try to explain to him that pulling out a 10yr old PC and trying to do anything satisfactorily with it in todays world, is the equivalent of him trying to tootle down the M1 to London in a Model T.
It won't cut the mustard - neither in performance, nor in OS - and it really is a waste of time trying to teach the operation of a 10yr old PC & OS, to a non-computer-literate person.
Buy him a current piece of kit - the stuff has never been so cheap, and current performance and AV protection is so far advanced over 10yr-old technology, it really doesn't warrant comparison.

[mad_jock]

The problem is you never know what the user is actually going to require until they start using it. So the intial fix should always be the easy one with the option of unpgrade later.

A cut down linux is relatively easy to setup up a desktop which only has a few icons on it.

Then sitting in the background you can add in functions without the user actually being aware that they are there.

As a basic premise linux/unix operate in a user/admin role with the os being protected by reduced rights.

Linux will handle pretty much any legacy hardware so a fedora installation shouldn't cause any headaches. You will also be able to get the browser working with all the normal add ons.

A wordprocessor is again easy along with a spreadsheet.

Printing again is relatively easy.

Then you see what they actually use it for. If its to slow etc you can then sell the idea that they need more hardware. If they are happy enough you just leave them. Patching etc is relatively easy and also free.

Realistically a user as described don't use 99% of what the machine is going to be capable of.

[probes]

no laugh at all - seniors can really become better persons with the help of the internet. Start with some favorite music of his young days on Youtube and soon he'll get the point.
No ever-grumpy guy (about modern technology in general and computers specifically) any more. My Father's 80, too, just can't find time to listen to what wonderful things he's found (and he has the disadvantage of having learned German instead of English at school).

[PowerDragTrim]

Lubuntu will probably run well on his machine and will do all he wants.
I am running v.10.04 on a Dell L400 P3 machine with 256 Mb ram and it is fine.

[BOAC]

Still waiting for him to unpack the beast - things move slowly here.:)