I just picked up a new Dell haswell based i5 desktop to hopefully last my parents the next 10 years. It replaced a core 2 duo dell vostro I got them back in 2006.
I was surprised they managed to last all of these years without getting spyware/malware on that machine until recently, which drove me to the brink and made me decide to pick them up a new PC. All I did was have them run as a standard user, not as an admin, and had adblock plus running on firefox. Also, I didn't install the java plugin either. I would come home every other week/ once a month to run updates and made sure everything was running well.
But somehow they were able to get malware on their computer the last month. they called me and made it sound like somebody in the family died, but it was just their damn computer being slow. I think it had to do with them watching korean soap operas off a website and they inadvertently installed something they shouldn't have. I thought as a standard user you werent allowed to do this stuff, is there a loophole somewhere?
I was thinking about setting up a dual boot, one that would boot into linux that pretty much guarantees them to not get malware when they are just surfing the web and doing emails, and another boot that would boot them into windows when they want to work with MS Office or use windows exclusive apps. whats everyone's experiences on being your parent's IT? what are the things to do, and things to not do?
another note, i was thinking of setting them up with a HD home run prime and using their old vostro as an HTPC. am i being too ambitious and just setting myself up for punishment here? lol
I was surprised they managed to last all of these years without getting spyware/malware on that machine until recently, which drove me to the brink and made me decide to pick them up a new PC. All I did was have them run as a standard user, not as an admin, and had adblock plus running on firefox. Also, I didn't install the java plugin either. I would come home every other week/ once a month to run updates and made sure everything was running well.
But somehow they were able to get malware on their computer the last month. they called me and made it sound like somebody in the family died, but it was just their damn computer being slow. I think it had to do with them watching korean soap operas off a website and they inadvertently installed something they shouldn't have. I thought as a standard user you werent allowed to do this stuff, is there a loophole somewhere?
I was thinking about setting up a dual boot, one that would boot into linux that pretty much guarantees them to not get malware when they are just surfing the web and doing emails, and another boot that would boot them into windows when they want to work with MS Office or use windows exclusive apps. whats everyone's experiences on being your parent's IT? what are the things to do, and things to not do?
another note, i was thinking of setting them up with a HD home run prime and using their old vostro as an HTPC. am i being too ambitious and just setting myself up for punishment here? lol
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