Show HN: Fun tool that cut my family and friends tech support time in half

Post by sgk284 » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 4:04 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #4

nathancahill wrote: post #3

So the first 2 are rebooting and making sure it has power. The third is "up to date". I do quite a bit of tech support for my family and neither of those issues are really issues. The #1 issue for me is "this free app I installed wanted to install a browser addon and now I see ads everywhere". The #2 is "this free app I installed hijacks everything on my Mac to show ads". I've spent countless hours educating them abo…

The best thing I ever found to reduce the risk of malware is to move them to a Linux distro. The risk is not zero but from a user perspective I install the software they need from package repositories remotely, and that more or less settles it. Of course this is not for everyone, but for folks who for the most only need a browser a Linux distro is a good choice.

Post by rcdmd » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 4:05 AM UTC

Post by diziet » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 4:12 AM UTC

howderek wrote: post #8

I think this needs a "I don't know" option that leads to links to support pages. I've certainly dealt with friends and family who don't know how to check if their software is up to date and update it if it's not. I also think the "Did this fix your problem?" prompts after saying "Yes" are redundant.

Post by intrasight » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 4:18 AM UTC

sgk284 wrote: post #11

ekianjo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best thing I ever found to reduce the risk of malware is to move them to a Linux distro. The risk is not zero but from a user perspective I install the software they need from package repositories remotely, and that more or less settles it. Of course this is not for everyone, but for folks who for the most only need a browser a Linux distro is a good choice.

For folks who mostly just need a browser and for whom malware is a risk, you really can't do better than an iPad. I love Linux, but there really is no beating an iPad if you need a PC-approximate that is absurdly low maintenance.

Post by ekianjo » Wed, Dec 07, 2016, 4:27 AM UTC

jjnoakes wrote: post #7

jessriedel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your solution to malware problems with an unsophisticated user is to just cripple their ability to install anything, why not let instead let them keep Windows/Mac and give them an account with minimal privileges?

Because he is probably way more familiar with remote administration of a Linux machine.