Topic awaiting preservation: Software for Mom's computer

So I'm rebuilding an old computer for my mom, who's pretty much a computer novice. She's just going to use it for basic email, word processing and browsing the interweb. I'm not spending anything on software mostly just installing old stuff I already have and I'm looking for a usefull set of software to load on it (freeware for the most part).

Right now I'm installing Windows 98 SE because I have an old license and it's an old P333 so it should do most everything fine. Currently I've got

An older version of Office mainly just for MS Word,
AVG Anti-Virus
Adaware
Firefox.
Winzip

Any other usefull software packages you'd recommend?



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Thunderbird.

Or you could get rid of FireFox and Thunderbird and install Opera

winamp

Zone Alarm

- Butcher -

Rather than install an older version of MS Office, which may present problems dealing with files from more recent versions, I would go with OpenOffice.

quote:

---

norm said:

Rather than install an older version of MS Office, which may present problems dealing with files from more recent versions, I would go with OpenOffice.

---

I thought of that but with small CPU's sometimes OpenOffice can kind of bog it down.

definately ZoneAlarm though if there's no hardware firewall.

Later,

C:\

Hmm...

I have questions about both. First with Zone Alarm I'm a bit hesitant just because sometimes until you get them configured firewalls tend to be a bit restrictive and can be hard to use. When I first tried ZA (a couple of years ago now) I kept having to allow the ports for everything I did. Has this become easier?

Second Open Office is interesting but I'm mostly concerned about ease of use. Can someone who's mostly used to Word on a really basic level move over easily?



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

OpenOffice is quite intuitive, but it is an office suite, not just a word processor. If your mom only has a use for something like Word, you don't need to install anything else.

I'd skip WinZip and install 7-Zip ( http://7-zip.org/ ). Much much much nicer in so many ways imo.

I'd go with Firefox and Thunderbird (unless she only does web-based email). Be sure to disable Internet Explorer (highest security, etc.) after you're done updating with it.

Probably will want to install the Flash, Shockwave, & Authorware (why not, there's that cool da Vinci thing ) players as well as the latest JRE and Adobe's acroread (and SVG viewer would be good, too...or just wait for 1.5, maybe).

Need CD burning software?

quote:

---

bitdamaged said:
Has this become easier?

---

Not really. Hahaha....that pop up thing for new programs or thost that change...gets a bit annoying too.

quote:

---

bitdamaged said:
Can someone who's mostly used to Word on a really basic level move over easily?

---

Yes. It looks almost identical and all the tools are in the same spot. At least on mine it is. I have Office 2003 and XP and OO.org 2.0. Pretty much the same thing.

Later,

C:\

thanks for jogging my memory on Open Office, 2.0 looks to be ready for prime time! First thing I did was to go into the Options and set everything to save to default MS formats so... YEEHA! Feels like I'm stickin it to the man. Plus it seems to work flawlessly, bonus

ZA is indeed a bear to support with clueless relatives (no matter how many times you show them how to google a process.exe to figure out whether to allow it or not, the phone calls still come). I've taken to not installing it for relatives any more but enabling the XP firewall and letting it go. But you're using W98se so, no idea. Always on broadband connection? If so oughta have a firewall of somesort!

quote:

---

Open Office, 2.0 looks to be ready for prime time!

---

Funny, I wrote a magazine article titled OpenOffice 2.0: Ready for prime-time. Best I could do in 1,000 word and keeping to the editor's requirements.

quote:

---

I thought of that but with small CPU's sometimes OpenOffice can kind of bog it down

---

See the tips at the end of the article (above).

quote:

---

She's just going to use it for basic email, word processing and browsing the interweb. I'm not spending anything on software mostly just installing old stuff I already have and I'm looking for a usefull set of software to load on it (freeware for the most part).

---

I recently did a similar thing for a client. Here's what I included. On that project we chose not to pre-install anti-virus and firewall so the recipients didn't have to uninstall something before installing the app of their choice. We did, however, refer them to http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/antivirus.shtml for free anti-virus and http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml for free firewalls.

Alternatively, when I did the same thing for my parents, I just installed Ubuntu Linux and let them have at it. My dad had never used a computer and my mom had used Win98 before she retired a few years ago. I've had no support issues with them whatsoever. Yeah, there's the occassional question about the web or email, but nothing about how to use the computer or the applications. And, of course, I didn't have to teach them about spyware, viruses and trojans (Oh my!).



(Edited by brucew on 12-01-2005 15:37)

(Edited by brucew on 12-01-2005 15:40)

Google Earth might be a fun addition too if her web connection (and the cpu...) can handle it.

//edit: plus, non-technical people tend to enjoy Google's Picasa pretty much. But that will only make sense if she's got a digicam, of course.

(Edited by kuckus on 12-01-2005 20:02)

i found this Top 10 things to do for mom's PC over Thanksgiving an interesting guide

quote:

---

brucew said:

Funny, I wrote a magazine article titled OpenOffice 2.0: Ready for prime-time.

---

Funnier still I was quoting the title of my own blog post Cheers Bruce!