My mother (who lives a plane ride away) has managed to download so much garbage (spyware, etc) onto her computer that she can't use some of the most basic things anymore. I've tried to have her run Adaware and virus software, but she doesn't really know what she is doing and it doesn't seem to have much success. She really only uses her computer to pay bills, look at pictures and videos of her grandson and other surfing...and apparently downloading spyware. I've asked her to take her computer to GeekSquad because I don't know where else she can go to get it cleaned up. I suspect they will be stupidly expensive, though. If that doesn't work, I was going to buy her a new laptop and hopefully preload it with enough stuff that she doesn't have to do anything with it. Any suggestiond for a reasonable cheap but decent laptop? Also, how in the heck can I keep her from d/l stupid spyware if I get her a new computer?
You could buy her a refurbished Macbook for cheap. Probably more intuitive to use and you'll get rid of the spyware problems.
Put two accounts on the machine: a guest, and an admin. Give her access to the guest (can't download, can't install). If she needs anything installed or reconfigured on that PC, you or someone savvy enough to know not to download pr0... I mean, illicit or illegitimate stuff ... can do the proper installation for her. EDIT: didn't remember she doesn't live in the same town... Put a Remote Desktop solution to where you can do these things remotely and she can watch on the monitor what you do to her machine. Keep notes. I've gone through this already, and they won't learn... they still think you're their Tech Support no matter what they keep doing that you tell them not to. Good luck.
Put Logmein Rescue on her machine. Use a free trial of Logmein rescue and have her go to www.logmein123.com, connect to her PC, and troubleshoot by yourself. I highly recommend to go in there, hit up malwarebytes, glaries utilities, autoruns by windows sysinternals, and use a nice antivirus solution. I personally recommend Vipre. If she really is only using the computer for basic needs you could consider putting Ubuntu 11.04 on the computer, and setup all the stuff she neeeds on the desktop for easy access.
don't do that to your mother, it's her machine, be a good son, fix/format it for her don't limit their machine to mundane tasks, give her freedom
A Windows PC on the internet is The car only the mechanic can drive. It's going to have software-security issues eventually. Go with a Mac or a Linux build to keep your mom's pc relatively trouble free in the malware area. Not sure what 'cheap' means to you- that term is relative. The less you spend, the more you're going to have to deal with shoddy hardware, in my experience. Is saving a couple hundred bucks really worth having to hear her complain about it at every holiday dinner? Oh, and you're NOT doing her a favor sending her to Geek Squad. Not only do they cost an arm and a leg, they are clueless noobs. Have her find some hole-in-the-wall shop....guys who run those know so much more than the guys at Geek Squad with their shiny new A+ certs.
I'm selling a cheap $200 laptop with relatively decent specs running Linux Ubuntu 11.04. It does everything that she would need it for. Paying bills, e-mail, pictures, it comes with Libreoffice, Skype for Linux, you can even setup stuff like Boxee, Dropbox, etc. I switched my grandmother over from Win Xp to Ubuntu and she has no complaints, sure she ocassionally calls me because she doesn't understand how to install stuff but with Ubuntu, it comes with "Software Center" so it's not that difficult, and in my opinion is the most user friendly of all the distro's.
I suggest telling her to download and run CCleaner - http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/download/005030363d33747268c9961efe98a27b/
lol@ Ubuntu for mom. Listen to Xerobull and some of these other guys. It's all going to depend on how much you want to spend and how much you want to be IT/Support for your mom. You can get a new Windows 7 machine, set up the permissions/seperate accounts, and put on a remote software so you can access it. You can load it with a good AV and something like Malwarebytes. Just be aware that you WILL still have virus problems of some sort if your mom is that adept at picking up spyware. That is unavoidable. Finding a mac will alleviate a lot of those virus issues, but on the flip side you will be spending more. You just have to decide how much not having to deal with the malware is worth to you. And, for the love of mom, quit using Adaware.
I know you said you want to get her a new laptop but if her laptop just needs cleaning up considering what she uses it for also I'd say you can try using teamviewer and remotely access her computer to clean it up. It's very easy to use and they have a free version. http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx
Just install Ubuntu on the laptop. I did it about a year ago and I've wondered why I didn't do it sooner. Paying for antivirus software that never seems to work and dealing with supplemental spyware software is a ridiculous waste of time.
