Family Tech: Help your family out this holiday season

Thanksgiving is coming up fast. You might think of it more as Tech Giving, if like many, you are expected to give of your tech talent and time over the weekend to resurrecting a recalcitrant parental PC.

Computers and the internet are a boon to seniors as much as they are to the rest of us. A few years ago, senior care facilities couldn’t hold enough PC classes to meet demand. I’ve worked with seniors here in Woodbridge, and many first took to PC’s for e-mail contact with children and
grandchildren. They soon discovered the ability to find medical information, track investments and other needs specific to their interests. I know a 92-year-old who’s a whiz with Photoshop, for example.

When things go awry on their systems many seniors rely on computer literate children and
grandchildren. Thanksgiving is a great time to exchange a hot meal for some help.

Here are a few ideas to make it easier for you.

To maximize time with family and away from the computer, start before you even arrive. Call
Mom and ask find out if she’s got issues she wants you to look at while you’re there. Otherwise,
she might not get around to asking you until a few hours before you leave.

Also and ask her about how she uses the computer. What are their primary uses?

Prepare a tool box for yourself. Download an anti-virus package, a spyware locater and other tools
and either burn them to a CD or copy them to a USB drive.

When you get there, get to the computer as people start to drift off to bed. A lot of the scans
you’re going to want to make take time so you want to take advantage of overnight periods. Don’t
waste that first night.

First, take an inventory. What make is the PC? How much memory? How fast is it? What
version of Windows (or OS X) is it running? When was it purchased? Dial-up or broadband
internet? On the online links page for this column, I have a questionnaire to help you.

Side note: a lot of this information here is Windows oriented. The concepts will be the same for
Mac users, but I lack the experience with Macs now to be more specific.

At this point, you have to make a go/no go decision. How old is this beast? If it is still running
Windows 98, or earlier, you need to strongly consider pushing them to get a new computer.
Now’s the time maybe to talk with other family members. Anyone upgrading to a new Windows
7 PC and have a good, workable XP system they can give the parents? Or perhaps everyone could
get together and buy them a new PC for Christmas. Forget upgrading. If a PC shipped with
Windows 98 it is at least ten years old. It won’t have the speed, memory or hard drive space for a
newer operating system.

If the current system is fine, then do they have an up to date anti-virus? If not, install one. AVG
and Microsoft Security Essentials are free. Many ISP’s offer free anti-virus. Install one and run
a scan overnight.

The next day, install and run Spybot to check for spy ware.

Go to Microsoft Windows Update site to install the latest patches and updates. Check key
applications to see if there are updates for them.

If you want to be able to sleep at night, take them a USB backup drive as a gift. Staples and
Amazon sell 320 gigabyte Passport drive, for example, for about $80. Its software will automatically
backup any file saved to the PC’s hard drive with a copy on the Passport. When the PC’s hard
drive dies (they all do eventually) your parents will still have their data on the external drive.

When you have everything humming along, you might be able to give them the best gift. Has the
rest of the family friended one another on Facebook? Show your parents how to setup a Facebook
account and find family members and friends. Social networks can be a special joy with friends
and family spread out around the country.

Find software and bookmark sites for them they might find of interest. My mother, on her third
Mac, reads her home town news every week online, socializes on Facebook, makes her own
greeting cards, and edits her club yearbook, all on her computer.

A working PC is a window to family. You can make your parents truly thankful with a little
effort.

Links for items mentioned in this column can be found at: http://bit.ly/FamilyTech Mark's blog is
at http://markstout.blogspot.com and his email address is markstout@gmail.com