Today is Thanksgiving 2009 and some folks celebrate at mom’s house. Many people support their parents or siblings computers and today is a day to take the time and update, enhance and in general make YOUR life easier when you have to provide support.
So here are 5 things you can do to provide quick and easy support to your loved ones and hopefully they’ll be extra thankful today for your generosity. 
1. Firefox
If you haven’t already installed Firefox on their computer, do so. In general, it’s a bit quicker, a bit more secure and renders web pages in a more standard way. Plus, most likely your family member’s computer is an older one. Firefox can load quicker than most browsers on older computers. Make sure you provide shortcuts to their top 3 or more favorite sites on the desktop.
2. Virus Update
If their computer already has virus protection, make sure it’s up to date. If they don’t have virus protection and its a Windows computer, download and install the freely available Microsoft Security Essentials. Make sure you set it up to do a daily Quick Scan. You can do the scan when your family member sleeps and then…
3. Automatically Shutdown Their PC
You can pick between any of my articles on How To Shut Down Your Windows XP Computer, or How To Automatically Shut Down Your Windows Vista Computer, or How To Automatically Shut Down Your Windows 7 Computer .
Now, depending on what Anti-Virus software you’re running, that software might include an automatic shut down as well, after a virus scan. So go for a scan when they’re sleeping and then auto-shutdown the computer. A computer that’s turned off is a safer computer.
4. Remote Control Software
Don’t ya’ just love those late night calls or in some cases every night calls? Ease the pain by installing remote control software on your relative’s computer.
I prefer LogMeIn Free. But, I’ve also used Copilot. Copilot is one of the best and quickest ways to connect to someone. However, you only get 2minutes free. If it’s someone you support occasionally, CoPilot also offers a Day Pass for $5.00 that gives you 24 hours of support. The Copilot Day Pass has worked wonderfully for me.
5. Backup, Sync and Share
While working on Mom’s computer, you might need to transfer files or keep a quick backup of necessary tools, documents, etc. For that, I use Dropbox. With 2GB of online storage for free, Dropbox is incredibly fast and a secure way to backup, sync or share files that you might need while supporting computers.
There’s plenty more tips, tricks and techniques I will share in future articles, so make sure you subscribe. Happy Thanksgiving!!
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Nice one here! I am exercising 3 out of 5 Tips you shared. I am curious about the Automatically Shutdown Their PC and Remote Control Software, what are their roles? Is it a need to have an automatically shutdown on your PC? For me, I’m kinda puzzled here because as long as you shutdown you’re PC after you’ve finished your work and its the proper way of shutting down, there will be no problem. :p
I never used my firefox for about 3 months I think. I actually hate the fact that it always crashes. Though it saved all the sites I’m currently browsing, I eat up most of the time going back to the site again. I really don’t know the reason behind this crash.
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@Alexa Stone: Thanks for stoppin’ by Alexa. I bet there’s a Firefox add-on for that. In fact it might be an add-on that is causing it. You can also visit this page and search http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+crashes?s=firefox+crashes&as=s
Backup is the most important tool we need for home users, because we dont know most of the when our PC crashes. I lost my data recently becuse of the problem. Thanks for listing this 5 tools ,Hope it helps every users a lot
James
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I have used logmein many times and its very helpful in fixing computer problems from remote location.
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Using a couple of the above…love Dropbox…it’s been massivly helpful. Wanted to mention TeamViewer as well. Free option has saved me several trips…let you see what they see. Helpful!
Some helpful tips I’ll keep in mind for my moms computer. Although she has most of these things the only problem with her computer is that it is getting pretty slow. I tried defragmenting it and deleting old crap off of it but it still doesn’t help. Wondering what will fix it up.
Remote control software is probably my number 1. Don’t feel like driving 30 mins every time there is a problem. Safes me sooo much time. lol
Great post!! The only thing I would change is installing Chrome instead of Firefox (it seems to run a bit quicker with less issues)
Thanks for the advice and tips , this will really help a lot , i really enjoyed visiting your site, hoping for more updates sooner, thanks in advance.
No, I think Firefox is the best browser nowadays, is has many functions and Chrome crushes too often.
Luckily, my mom does not use a computer so I never have to take care of it. she is a bit old and never been into tech stuff.
Thanks for the tips. One other thing I would recommend is a free download called C Cleaner.
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@Mary: Thanks Mary. CCleaner is a handy tool.
I’d add an instant chatting software like Yahoo Messenger or Windows Messenger so she can contact you every time she gets a new virus when she clicks the “you won 200000$” annoying banners on the online games websites
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@Mike Ramsey@excessive sweating: Assuming she can even run a messaging tool after getting a virus. I’ve got her set up pretty good so that hasn’t happened yet (cross fingers). Thanks for stoppin’ by.
@Bill: True, is very likely that she can’t run such a program if she gets a really ugly virus. My mom had lots of trojans and viruses on her laptop but I never had the time to take a look so I just formatted the HDD
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Moms computer. Always the big issue. There is always something wrong with her computer,…
The problem is, that she dont want to use Firefox, but she likes IE and than everything is f***d up.
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I think the most important is the Virus Update and the back up just in case anti virus can’t control the infected computer. This will keep all your mom’s file on her desktop computer.
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wow, thanks for sharing this information. Very helpful
Firefox seems to be a default browser for those who aren’t really into complicated stuff while browsing the net. My aunt uses that, though.
I highly recommend CCleaner. It saves me so time when going out on jobs. I’ve used to quickly delete over 20 gigs before. .
Some great tips here I am now trying to convince my mom to use firefox (easier said than done)
Great post!! The only thing I would change is installing Chrome instead of Firefox (it seems to run a bit quicker with less issues). I love Firefox because haves a lot of extensions
Have allways liked firefox best but now i think Chrome is the winner in this war…
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Thanks — this is very helpful information!
Well, before taking care of these 5 things on my moms computer i really need to teach her how to work the mouse, lol
Rachel
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I have one to add to you list, since it seems to be the most common issue I have to sort on my mother in laws pc!
Make sure all windows updates have been downloaded and installed!
an app like ccleaner is quite good to have
firefox is A#1 the best thing you can do. Make sure you have the most recent update as well. Its way better than IE and you don’t have to worry about all the viruses that come along with Microsoft as much..
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There is nothing I can do to prevent my dad and step mom from getting all kinds of viruses. Remote control software like logmein.com or showmypc.com are used several times per year to fix an issue on their computers. I guess a mac would help prevent a lot of the issues, but then they’d be calling me asking how to do something on the Mac. There is no winning with old people and pcs.
atrix cover » I would encourage them to look for a computer class. My mother-in-law is 80 years-old and she took a free computer class through the catholic church in her home town. But, convincing someone who’s 80 to take classes can be tough to do as well.
Good luck.
Wow these list of tools are quiet helpful indeed! Not only for moms but for me as well. I guess the most important for me are items 2 and 5, virus update because I always have the tendency to forget to check or update my anti-virus.. thus usually causing me problems with number 5.. cause I am also always never caring to back-up etc. ..
Great blog!
being the go-to person for all of the family’s computer problems drives me nuts! These days the first tool I reach for is often Ubuntu: “install this, it doesn’t get viruses, is fast and secure”. Saves me the hassle in the long run!
Firefox is surely very user friendly for the not so savvy net users of the older generation. My favorite antivirus is of course AVG Free. I’m using it on my home computer for the last 10 years, and have never faced a problem.
I use Firefox for about 2 weeks now and it’s really great with its numerous plugins. As for visuses, there’s no antivirus created yet to stop our parents get viruses)
Nice tips ..honestly I haven’t really cared about my moms computer, and I realized now that I should ..I have always taken for granted her needs and I feel that protecting and taking care of her pc is one thing that I can do to show her that I care..Thanks
My mom knows her way around computers but not all. Like me, she also spends most of her time in the computer and she always get in trouble with viruses. I guess it’s time for me to visit her and at the same time check her computer. Thanks for the tips!
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Great bit of advice but would recommend Mozilla not firefox
What a very nice post! And this is what’s funny. My daughter, a lovely 14 year old who spends a lot of time on the computer, picked up some flowers, tied it with a ribbon with a card saying, “this is what I will give you today because it’s your birthday” and gave her a list. This is the list. Thanks for posting. Although I had heaps of questions from her while she was doing it, it really is very lovely.
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I think firefox without doubt is a better browser than chrome, chrome always crashes on my pc. The Remote Control Software sounds like a good peice of software, Thanks for the share.
pubs in bolton » I love some of the new versions of Firefox. I use both Chrome and Firefox all the time. I don’t experience crashes with Chrome.
I think that Chrome is easier to use for many people. Probably also for most of the Moms out there.
Now we are in 2011 and your post of 2009 still get valid to care the computers, but Google Chrome is getting a lot of fans and Team Viewer to the remote support, is a great blog.
Wow dropbox looks pretty cool. I didn’t know about this company. I know your post is old but I still learned a lot.
Have a good day,
Anita
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Anita » Thanks for stoppin’ by Anita. I’m still using Dropbox.
Fire fox is miles better than any browser out there.
Builders in Chester » I personally use Google Chrome a lot these days but I still use Firefox extensively. But for my mother-in-law, she’s happy with Firefox.
as above, CCleaner may be made in the choice,
Using a reliable anti-virus software is really essential in keeping any computer safe. For those who are in their computers just to browse the web, it will be really helpful that you have an anti-virus installed. This makes sure that you’re safe from viruses that could harm your computer.
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