IT Support for elderly

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

Soldato
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Does such a thing exist?

Girlfriends parents are terrible with IT (as are many people in there 60s/70s/80s) and have somehow got Malware or a virus on their computer. It seems every night her mum calls asking how to use her iPhone aswell.

Is there an online service that can be called to fix issues and provide advice specifically to elderly people who struggle to undrestand technology?

I used to provide IT support for home users when I was in a support role and it was a minefield. Generally it was best endeavours. Certainly now I do not provide assistance or build PCs for people as there have been problems in the past with family "you build this 3 months ago and now its broke, fix it please"
 
I used to work for a company called PC Guru. That was exactly what we did. That closed down a year or so ago. I resigned a year or two before that. Basically Windows 10 made it (and the staff who were left) mostly redundant.
 
Op i feel your pain, gave my mother my old note 4 and that was a year of how to send messages, attach pictures, updating apps, watching stuff on YouTube, and not having 1,000,000 open... while i was away abroad with work a relative bought my father a new samsung phone... my eye wouldn't stop twitching for a week.
There are some handy youtube channels that do how to guides on just about everything Britec09 is one i direct relatives to generally.
Otherwise.. you are the tech support. Think of it as improving and developing your tech analysis, troubleshooting and customer management skills.
 
When you’re girlfriend needs or needed her parents down through the years they I assume they didn’t try and farm her out to some 3rd party ‘support’ - tell your gf to (wo)man up and help her folks out no matter how irritating it might be. life is circular, parents help us out when we need it, we help them when they need it.
 
A while back I ended up installing Mint on a bunch of PCs for older people who just needed to do simple stuff.

All the old issues like regular malware/spyware/running like a dog immediately went away and everyone was happy.
 
When I had to move back in with my parents to help care for my old man the worst thing I did was buy my Mother a laptop. No matter how many times I explain the most basic of IT (things like sending an email, saving links rather than writing the URL down and manually typing it in, shutting the thing down correctly etc. etc.) she never seems to retain the knowledge and I get the dreaded shout. I live in fear of that shout.

She did go on an IT course run by a church group that her best friend attends, but that was useless and the guy running it had about as much IT knowledge as a dead goldfish. The course was aimed at the elderly who have never used a PC and/or tablet before yet he didn't even go through the basics. In fact, my Mother says on the first day he showed them how to turn a PC on and then, I **** you not, proceeded to show them how to make a Christmas card.
 
Hakanese said:
Think of it as improving and developing your tech analysis, troubleshooting and customer management skills.
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This- but if you have remote desktop access on their system that can help.

If you are in the IT business I think we underestimate problems that non tech people can have generally;
Android, that most have, seems to have escaped the attention of the 'criminals', versus windows.

Teaching my folks to use noscript and ublockO is difficult, without them you just end up with a ton of junk running on the device, even if it's not malware.
I checked that all the main supermarket+store+newspaper web-sites functioned on xmas day
 
Just tell them to wait. Someone from 'Microsoft' will probably telephone them within the next couple of weeks and offer to fix it for them.
 
Bouton Aide said:
It would have "immediately went away" because you formatted the system. :p
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LOL of course, but previously I just got fed up with recurring problems chewing up my time. Slow old machines just take forever to do anything on. :(

At one point I had clean system images for multiple people as it was doing my head in being called so often.

I just tell people I know nothing about computers these days, it's easier.
 
Bouton Aide said:
Isn’t it strange with certain hobbies you don’t get asked questions but with certain ones you get pestered.
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The funny thing is, you wouldn't ask a plumber to "pop over and have a look at the boiler" for free, would you?

For some reason computers are seen differently.
 
Narj said:
The funny thing is, you wouldn't ask a plumber to "pop over and have a look at the boiler" for free, would you?

For some reason computers are seen differently.
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I do but then the plumber is my mates dad who is completely IT illiterate and the amount of hours I've spent working on/repairing his laptop is unreal (last one was replacing his screen because he closed the lid with his glasses inbetween), conversely I never paid for my boiler to be serviced and when he installed it (went from a back boiler to a combi) he only charged me the cost of the boiler and pipes (less than a grand).

This issue is more and more common as everything is going online and some people don't have any computer skills at all, I help out the homeless taking out hot food and supplies a couple of evenings a week and one guy has been given a flat by the local charity, he's trying to sort out bills etc. with his JSA (or whatever they get) and everything has to be done online, he's only just got a couple of bits of furniture nevermind a laptop or broadband.
 
I'm in 2 minds about this.

- the internet has been mainstream in the UK since the late 90s. Granny (in her late 60s) got to grips with it pretty quickly. Now she's in her early 90s and is pretty proficient. She does online banking, social media, knows her way around a tablet etc. If she has a technical issue, she'll try and resolve it herself before phoning up the family. In other words, the elders have had over 20 years to get to grips with the internet.

- on the flipside, I'm middle-aged (42), IT-proficient too, but I've never been able to get my head around the Office 2007/2010+ ribbon interface. I always preferred the file/edit/format/tools/help menu because I know where everything is. On the ribbon interface, I have to google where the command placements are, and 13 years on (in 2020), I'm still having to google them
 
I was 38 in 1990 when desktops became a thing in offices followed a couple of years later by windows 3 etc. I bought my first computer and built my second one in the early 90's. I did build up a group of elders, of which I am now one at the age of 68, however sadly many have passed and I do not get my hands on unwanted stuff to update and pass on. I still support my mother in law with a malwarebytes licence, irregular system check ups and the occasional phone help but that is my limit now.

That is until I get a phone call... err Andy, my system is ******* from a supposedly computer literate friend and I have to go through all the possibles until I locate the issue.
 
It exists we used to offer it to a small amount of people but I'm sick to death of dealing with people more so elderly who love using the excuse ' I don't do PC's me' or 'I'm not a techy like you' and aren't willing to listen or learn what to do so we stopped offering it.

Luckily the local library (when it was opened) gave free lessons to elderly people and show them what to do etc.
 
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