Got a brand new (refurbished) laptop for the moms this holiday season...
Got a brand new (refurbished) laptop for the moms this holiday season...
She was handling an outdated A8 6410 system on W10. After upgrading to an SSD, the setup is limited—only one RAM slot with 4GB, which isn’t ideal. I need to turn it on soon to export some files... So I grabbed a refurbished Acer Aspire model with an R5 7520U to upgrade to W11. I was down for a few weeks and wanted to ask her how she felt about the new device.
"Oh, I haven't opened it"
It's still in the box, hasn't been touched since Christmas 2023, not charged since late November. (ugh!)
We had 'rona at her birthday and I was in Sebring for Mother's Day. We invited her over for dinner today as a combined event to cover everything, so I asked her to bring both her old and new laptop so I could set it up exactly how she prefers—fix the email, all that stuff. She told me not to reset the old one because she’s used to it, which makes me think my efforts might be in vain. She also mentioned her home printer lost connection since October last year. I’m puzzled about why she spends money on it when she only uses it occasionally for taxes. I’ve been trying to remind her about keeping her computer updated.
Anyway, I connected the new unit and it booted a few times before charging up slightly. It reached about 1% and now says there might be a charging issue. I’m attempting to run updates and check again after a while. This seems likely to be a problem given she hasn’t been using it much. She complained about all the notifications Windows sends—things like outdated warnings, no longer signed in, etc.—which usually happen when you only power it on occasionally.
I’m skeptical that W11 will make her happy considering how often it spams notifications.
I’ve considered this carefully; since her old laptop still works as she wants, I don’t mind sacrificing speed or efficiency. It’s probably just a matter of holding onto it, keeping it updated, and waiting until the end of W10 support so she won’t worry about missing out on an OS update.
I really hope I never end up feeling so technically clueless.
Same situation with my dad. He had important banking and investment files on a 2007 HP laptop with 4GB RAM and Windows 7. It was still being used for online activities. Passwords were written on labels stuck to the wrist pad. We actually had to apply Power of Attorney to take the device because he was dealing with spam emails.
I don’t really blame him. His cognitive decline is normal. The issue lies partly in the tech industry’s focus on able-bodied users who aren’t concerned about accessibility. This includes not maintaining consistent user interfaces or considering usability beyond basic senses like sight, hearing, and movement.
Studies show older adults struggle with touchscreens because their fingers are too dry to press consistently, and they often lack the fine motor skills needed to hold the device for the required time. We attempted to switch her to an iPad, but she kept holding it too long and moved the icons around.
I wish I had a better solution. We discussed this briefly earlier. The best option might be to stick with Windows 11—remove any temporary fixes, disable notifications, fix the battery, and provide occasional remote support. Remembering that the old laptop is likely aging and will eventually need replacement makes sense.
I'm not sure if this helps you, but with my parents, many update/notification problems were resolved by creating a always-on wifi network with internet access. They also set their Win10 laptop (connected via wifi) to receive updates as soon as they arrive, without the automatic restart option. This way, they didn't get unexpected reboots without permission, but still received important security patches each time they turned on and off.
I also configured her Windows account as a General User instead of Admin. However, this means someone else needs to act as sysadmin (i.e., me). So far, only one TeamViewer session has been required in the past two years.
I wasn't sure about your mum's internet setup—whether it was metered or unmetered, cable/hardline or cellular/satellite.
Another possibility is to go fully offline, and she could take her laptop to an accountant for tax filing. It depends on what she needs the laptop for, I suppose.
I would like to contribute something helpful to the discussion, but I completely grasp the IT support we aim to provide. Your mom being too far away from having useful internet is a major obstacle. During upgrades, I sometimes adjust things to make it as familiar as possible for her. For example, when I moved her from XP to Windows 7, I copied the desktop picture from her old setup and placed all folders in the same locations, making the change smoother. The same approach was used for Document, Pictures, and Download folders. It worked well during the transition from 7 to 10, and she handled it okay. Now that we're moving from 10 to Windows 11, she's nearly 80 and seems hesitant, saying she dislikes version 11—consistent with what I've heard.
I really question why she spends money when her main activity is just filing taxes. I’m not sure about the situation, but I’d be careless if I didn’t inquire. Taxes usually come around seasonally, not constantly. There must be some truth to it, though I’m not convinced. It seems the site, provider, and app could all be risky. Filing tax forms needs constant updates, and online forms might be unsafe. Well-known service aside... I hope you’re taking a closer look at what’s actually happening regularly. And my doubts are definitely out of place.
Mom resides far enough away that even within recent times (such as the last decade) she was still using dial-up. At some point, her ISP stopped offering dial-up and the technician came to install a new system at no cost because they no longer provided that service. This situation has repeated several times since then, as her DSL connection keeps improving. From what I recall, her current speed is around 10/2, and the latency is extremely poor. Besides that, the service frequently disconnects, so when I was helping out after a surgery and working from her home, I had to set up a remote power switch so she could turn off the modem, wait, then restore power—sometimes for an hour or even a couple of days. The benefit is that unlike dial-up, the DSL service doesn’t simply stop when it’s unused anymore. At one point, I had an old Pentium 4 machine running a 'desktop picture a day' download, which prevented it from slowing down.
Regarding the admin/user settings, I used to handle those with her but eventually had to give her the admin credentials anyway, which caused confusion since she would share information she didn’t understand. I usually keep her UAC enabled, though this might also be related to the pop-up warnings she mentioned.
@stonecarver
That’s a solid approach—I’m trying something similar but unsure if I should install software to mimic the W10 Start menu. At first, we’ll test it out, as it seems to be quite responsive and offers a nicer interface compared to the older version. I was surprised by how slow this old machine is, which could improve her experience.
@Ralston18
She uses Turbo Tax. A few years ago, she bought it on a disk and was hesitant when it switched to an online version. She keeps a folder on her desktop where I can verify her progress, though I don’t delve into her tax or financial details as she’s very private about that. As noted earlier, my mom tends to write checks rather than use online services for utilities, which is actually helpful since I know she occasionally leaves the house for a few days each month, besides groceries.
My mother has unusual habits. She managed a POS system using Windows, digital backups, credit card machines, and relies on a smartphone and tablet every day. She tends to ignore messages and pop-ups until someone from her children comes by. Then she reads them out and asks about their meaning. Sometimes the notifications are quite basic. Despite this, she still pays all her bills by check, even complaining about the cost of checks.
My father uses Turbo Tax but refuses to file electronically. He still runs a Windows 7 machine, which he bought years ago, even though Windows 10 was available. Turbo Tax stopped supporting Windows 7 long ago, so he continues using it for taxes. He’s stubborn about switching to the internet version. I’ve even had Dell replace the motherboard in his computer. Recently, I tried to get him to buy a new keyboard and fans, but he still has a faulty fan bearing and misspelled letters on his keyboard from dropping it a few times.