OT: Computers for seniors

[Kenneth Brody]

On 2/9/2012 12:11 AM, Bob Rasmussen wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm looking for tips on helping my 83-year-old mother with her computer
> needs. She's very tied into her email, but that's almost all she does.
> She's cognitively doing pretty well, but vision is a problem. She uses
> dial-up Internet to save money, but we might be flexible on that.
>
> After using a series of hand-me-down laptops (from me) with web-based
> email (gmail), she's talking about buying something. I would think any
> Windows PC with a large enough screen would suffice, for the hardware.
>
> For software, again primarily for email, the primary issue is ease of use,
> which I would imagine means:
>
> * Lack of visual clutter (such as ads) on the screen.

I use Thunderbird, which is very "clean".

> * Large target areas for mouse actions, maybe for use with a touch screen.

Unfortunately, a quick check of Thunderbird's settings didn't turn up a 
"make the buttons larger" setting.

> * High contrast colors, no partial transparency.

You can easily turn off Vista/Win7 transparency.  In fact, if you click the 
start button (or whatever they renamed it to) and type "transparency", one 
of the items is "enable or disable transparent glass on Windows", which 
takes you straight to the appropriate control panel window.

> * Not too many options she is unlikely to need.
>
> * Ability to view common attachments.

I would think just about any Windows e-mail program would have that.  If not 
built-in, get a free PDF reader and OpenOffice.org to fill things out.

> * Minimal bandwidth requirements, for dial-up.

I guess you'll have to check if they still include a dial-up modem on 
whatever you get.  My Win7 laptop no longer has one.  (My previous laptop 
[Vista] still did.)

> I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions, especially if backed up by family
> experience.

Last year, we finally got my mother to replace her ancient Win98 box (a 
hand-me-down from her then-4-year-old grandson -- it still had the "Alex's 
PC" sticker on the side).  She uses it almost exclusively for writing 
letters (previously an ancient MS-Word, now OpenOffice.org), and now e-mail 
(for which she uses Firefox and gmail).  We ended up with a Toshiba 15-inch 
Win7 laptop.  (I forget the exact model.  Not bottom-of-the-line, as she's 
likely to keep it for another 10 years, and not top-of-the-line and paying 
for features she'll never use.)

-- 
Kenneth Brody