Advice for Elderly Surfers

xxdeebeexx

My mum is a silver surfer at 82 years old. We have been looking for a new internet provider for her and were considering Talktalk or orange.

However this involves changing the telephone service over too. In recent months both these providers have had problems with interruptions in their service. I went for 10 days without Talktalk broadband and 4 days withou a telephone . Not so important for the broadband but desperately important for the telephone.

I realised that my elderly mum and dad need a very reliable telephone system incase of emergency. We have decided to use Bt broadband although expensive will give peace of mind.

Good luck

Dx

Ps I too would vote for a desk top pc

Edinburghlass_2

I'd actually go with a laptop rather than a desktop for the ability to use anywhere and save on heating a spare bedroom in the winter if nothing else and being able to use in the garden or a conservatory in the summer.

I was wandering in PCWorld the other days looking to see if they had one of the Asus EEE (very small) but happened to notice a Toshiba on offer which had huge keys so not all keyboards on laptops are small.

Garetha

Edinburghlass wrote: »

I'd actually go with a laptop rather than a desktop for the ability to use anywhere and save on heating a spare bedroom in the winter if nothing else and being able to use in the garden or a conservatory in the summer.

I was wandering in PCWorld the other days looking to see if they had one of the Asus EEE (very small) but happened to notice a Toshiba on offer which had huge keys so not all keyboards on laptops are small.

I agree - a lappy is more flexible - I'm using a Dell Inspiron 520 now in the warmth of our lounge rather than my cold office. The keyboard is very good - no tiny keys.
I like to watch TV and check online questions that arise: "What was she in?" "Where is ...?"
I sometimes use a plug in mouse if I need it - or even a 'real' keyboard.
The garden is another matter - bright sun - hard to see screen!

jay_cee_2

thats fantastic that you are going to get them online! hope it all goes well.

bookduck

I'd would be VERY inclined to go for the small linux lappy (asus) as recommended elsewhere on this forum. It is cheap, fairly hack resistant (linux), no constant updates. Might even get way with not having virus protection.

Be There (and possibly O2?) have free 24 hour technical support. and if they need space you can always put on a usb hdd. They give you a loan router as aprt of the packaged that is pre-configured and all you need to do is plug it in to the phone line to get ut working.

techexpert

Put Log Me In Rescue on the pc, so if it goes wrong etc, all they have to do is double click on a icon, and you have control over their pc.

Nelski

Just an update re my op - my folks opted for the aol deal with a free laptop which whilst I know you all hate aol is probably better as I am familiar with it and can maybe help them get set up a bit easier.

Waiting on the laptop to arrive now then the fun starts:D
thanks for all your advice

ABH_3

techexpert wrote: »

Put Log Me In Rescue on the pc, so if it goes wrong etc, all they have to do is double click on a icon, and you have control over their pc.

I would sugest http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx over logmein as quite simply its easy to use and not as expensive and works in a similar way.

HTH

Jake'sGran

Nelski wrote: »

Just an update re my op - my folks opted for the aol deal with a free laptop which whilst I know you all hate aol is probably better as I am familiar with it and can maybe help them get set up a bit easier.

Waiting on the laptop to arrive now then the fun starts:D
thanks for all your advice

I am over 70 and have been using a computer for about six years. At the beginning I didn't have access to the Internet and I enjoyed myself getting used to making greeting cards etc. This, my second computer is a Dell like the first and it makes me cringe to think what I paid after reading some of the posts above. After reading a discussion on here about AOL monthly subscriptions I 'phoned them and got the price down to £9.99 from £14.99 which I think is cheap as I use my PC each day. I do all my banking on line and use a lot of forums (mainly re gardening). Yesterday I was pulling my hair out as suddenly the pointer would not move. I just hate it when I can't use my computer. Anyway, turned out to be the batteries in my cordless mouse.
I decided I would have a laptop as well as I just must have a computer. Dell were advertising one in The Times the other day for £320 approx.

I'm with the brigade who think they might find it easier to have a desktop. Oh, they will get so much fun out of it. Once they have learned the basics they can always come to this forum (you'll have to show them how) to ask questions. I used to think I could offer to give free advice to older people in the district who are just starting with the Internet but decided that I could possibly be overwhelmed by requests. Anyway, it's great that they want to have a go.

geekgirl

If they have no computer experience whatsoever then they may find the small tutorials from BBC webwise quite useful. It helps with mouse and keyboard skills as well as setting up computers and using internet and email. They are going to have a fab time.
Explain about not clicking on those grey boxes that pop up saying 'your computer could be infected'.