Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#101

Post by xd1936 » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:27 PM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #91

walrus01 wrote: post #87

give them a desktop that is basically xubuntu amd64 (xfce4 desktop on xorg) + firefox + chrome, and then install all of the best adblock extensions in both browsers. Even the most clueless parents can't successfully download and run windows binary malware/ransomeware/viruses on that. the xfce4 GUI is close enough to traditional windows98/windows2000/winXP models that most older non technical users have no problem wit…

This would be my suggestion as well Also might be useful to get a hosts file mapping bad domains to localhost

Or block them at the DNS level for the whole network with something like Pihole[1]

[1] https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#102

Post by davidgerard » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:34 PM UTC

A Mac. If you live with him, Ubuntu.

If there's that Just One Piece of Windows software he needs, do try it in Wine - Wine works more often than not these days.

I never did viscerally understand how literally 25% of Windows XP installations could be botnet members until I saw my sister's computer in 2010. Oh my goodness. The disk was full because they never emptied the rubbish bin. And I don't think there's ever been a piece of crapware that my brother-in-law didn't download to try. The only thing saving them was that they were still on dialup. They're on broadband now (it turns out the killer use case for videophones is our mother Skypeing her grandchildren), and I shudder to think what it's like. Normal people do not use computers like we do.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#103

Post by nitrogen » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:37 PM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #96

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #82

> He has even clicked through on a "You have been chosen to win an iPhone 7" link recently - he saw no harm in at least seeing what might happen. Show him one of those videos with deep-sea fish that use a luminescent lure to eat smaller fish. The pop-up is the lure. The small fish is him. The Internet is like the deep sea, and it's full of lures like that. One simple criterion I give non-technical people: if it's uns…

Plus these: * If it sounds too good to be true, it is. * If anything related to it says Nigeria, run screaming. * Nothing is free and you will never win anything. * Never enter your social security number at any time for anything. * Surfing the Internet is like walking down a back alley in Hong Kong. They claim to have everything, but you probably aren't going to like it when you get it. * Illegal software and margin…

Learn to close windows without clicking on anything (Alt+F4 or similar)

One has to be careful with this one; this can get you auto-upgraded to Win10, which not everybody wants.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#104

Post by pryelluw » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:42 PM UTC

I bought my dad a chromebook. Problem solved.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#105

Post by victorhooi » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:45 PM UTC

I second what some others here are saying - get your parents a Chromebook (or Chromebox if they want a desktop).

I got a Dell Chromebook for my mother.

It's nigh on unbreakable, and is great for non-tech parents. Each tab/app runs in its own sandbox, and it allows them to do the things they want (i.e. browsing).

It automatically updates in the background (none of that Windows update rubbish), it has inbuilt malware block lists (via Chrome Safe Browsing), it's fast, doesn't bog down over time etc.

Even if by some magic they brick it, a simple Powerwash (https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/183084?hl=en) and 5 minutes later, it will be back to a pristine state, they log in with their Google account, and it pulls down their settings again.

Also, if you want to see the latest and greatest coming in ChromeOS - try the Canary channel =). (But be prepared for rough edges).

Feel free to ask any questions.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#106

Post by Haegin » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 10:53 PM UTC

ralphc wrote: post #44

falcolas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This assumes an interest, willingness, and time to learn. For better or worse, not everyone can/wants to become an expert in managing these buggy and vulnerable messes we call general purpose computers. It's a big investment, an investment many of us don't remember making since it was effectively part of our childhood. That same investment, in a world with special purpose computing devices, has a very low ROI for peo…

It's also assuming you live close enough to your parents that you can go over and physically revive a bricked computer.

There's got to be money in a service where a company provides your parents with a computer that's set up to be pretty user friendly and safe. If they brick it, the computer is replaced. The company manages the machine so backups are handled and the new machine will be pretty close to whatever they lost wherever possible (in terms of content on the machine). If the hardware gets damaged that'd have to be paid for I guess.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#107

Post by contingencies » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 11:04 PM UTC

xd1936 wrote: post #97

walrus01 wrote: post #87

give them a desktop that is basically xubuntu amd64 (xfce4 desktop on xorg) + firefox + chrome, and then install all of the best adblock extensions in both browsers. Even the most clueless parents can't successfully download and run windows binary malware/ransomeware/viruses on that. the xfce4 GUI is close enough to traditional windows98/windows2000/winXP models that most older non technical users have no problem wit…

That eliminates Lightroom support, however.

Darktable is pretty good these days.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#108

Post by throwanem » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 11:06 PM UTC

rcamp wrote: post #21

I specifically wrote my book, Digital Survival Guide, to help address this knowledge gap in digital security and safety that our society has. However, education may not be enough for everyone and you may need to take a sandbox approach. Have them use a VM and expect to refresh it from a snapshot often. Check out my book, you and your parents will find many useful tips. http://amzn.to/2fkervN

No ebook version? In current year? Are you even serious right now?

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#109

Post by Someone1234 » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC

Chromebooks cannot print.

Everyone loves to recommend Chromebooks to older/less digitally literate people, and they're right to do so in most situations. However Chromebooks have one huge downside that makes them non-starters for some of that demographic: Printing is a no-go.

And don't tell me about "Google Cloud Print." Cloud Printing requires a PC or Mac connected to the printer and a copy of the Chrome browser running. In this scenario we're trying to replace a PC or Mac, not add to them, so Google Cloud Print is a non-starter.

Ultimately people who quickly jump on the Chromebook recommendation need to find out first if printing, even rarely, is a requirement. For a lot of people I've tried to move over to a Chromebook, it has been the single thing that killed the entire project.

Printing in general is a huge hole in Chromebook's offering.

Re: Ask HN: How do I protect my parents from the internet?

#110

Post by rwhitman » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 11:13 PM UTC

fredgrott wrote: post #86

rwhitman wrote: post #66

My mom has had various Windows PCs since the late 90's. About every 3 to 6 months or so I get a call that it's "stopped working" and has either locked up completely or is moving at a crawl. Nearly every time it takes me hours if not days to do a bunch of scans, install updates and purge whatever garbage has been installed by various malware that she's somehow managed to find. I've done more than a few clean wipes, bo…

or if they use MS Windows make them switch browsers to Google's Chrome

OMG, that's what I thought too! But no, no, no. Chrome became her BIGGEST vector for malware! She was installing Chrome plugins, and they in turn installed a modded copy of Chromium with all kinds of toolbars and spyware, which set itself as the default. Chrome became a total disaster, worse than IE ever was. I think recent security patches have helped a bit though