You could limit his user rights, make him a Standard user and don't let him install new software.
Also, have a look at how suitable a Chromebook will be for his workflow (simpler to maintain from your perspective and harder to infect).
Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
11–20 of 221 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#12Linux machine, subscribe to more adblocker malware prevention lists - my mother's laptop has more ticks on the adblock subscription lists than squares - and in case of my father an awkward conversation where I told him a list of safe porn sites.
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#13In this respect, the FTC has failed 100% in their mission. Normal, non-tech consumers cannot use the Internet without falling prey to the outlaw landscape that is the WWW.
I think you need to explain to them that the Internet is too much like the Wild West, and they need to stick to trusted web sites, as their "sight" is not tuned to see the dangers. Leaving them too scared to randomly surf might not be a bad thing, in this situation. I have the same type of situation with my 85 year old mother. She is somewhat tech savvy, but not enough. Her browser has every possible 3rd party toolbar, no matter how much I educate her on the situation...
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#14In addition to the stuff you mentioned, for my mother in law I:
removed her user's admin privileges
install flashblock - one of the ones where you have to click on the video to make it run
spent a long time explaining that you will never be chosen to win something, MS support never rings you to tell you have a virus, if something takes over the whole screen and tells you anything suspicious/implausible to press alt+f4
convinced her free music isnt worth the risk of downloading something that trashes the machine. installed spotify
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#15Not the answer you want but an ipad might limit the damage that can be done. It would remove the need for education.
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Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#16If you are stuck on Windows or Mac you can try a program that restores the computer to a safe state on reboot, like Deep Freeze.
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#17There are already good solutions below. The one thing I would add is that this may not be a "silver bullet" kind of problem. I'd throw everything I can into the mix to create layers of protection. Educate them but also add software solutions to the mix.
A small addition, how often do they need to install new software after initial setup? Maybe take away admin privileges?
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#18Use Deepfreeze or something similar. You'll mark a their documents directory as excluded and then every time they restart their machine it'll be back to the exact state it was in when you first set it up. You don't want to have to support them using a new OS for the first time - you'll be in for a headache. I use Deepfreeze for anyone who is a "problem user" and most don't even realize they have it if it's set up rig…
This is the answer.
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#19Not the answer you want but an ipad might limit the damage that can be done. It would remove the need for education.
Thanks for the reply! This is not at all a bad suggestion - my mum is on an iPad and actually since this happened, I realised that actually she is nowhere near as big a vector as my dad despite the fact that she doesn't know what an app is nor what a browser is.
My dad is more dangerous because he has some some idea of what he has just enough of an idea to know what he is doing but not enough of an idea to actually protect himself. He also despises all Apple products alas...
Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?
#20How about a Chromebook?
Cheap, keeps itself up to date, fully cloud based.
It wouldn't tick the Lightroom box but it does the internet based stuff extremely well with low maintenance.