Just a few tips to help mom out since she has done all the cooking and preparing for the holiday’s. Sometimes we just don’t know what we can do. So here are some family suggestions.
You love your mom, right? Remember all those times she took you to soccer practice? And that time when she was the only one clapping in the audience during your ‘recital’? She’s always been there for you, and this Thanksgiving weekend it is time to give a little love back. I thought I would tell you 10 tips to make mom’s computing experience more enjoyable. I hope my family reads this-LOL! It would be great to have someone do this since I seem to never find enough hours in the day to complete the computer cleanup! So, take a break from the annual long weekend of awkward conversations, bad football games, and watching TV reruns in anticipation of the big feast. It’s time to fix mom’s PC!
1. When was the last time your mom did a full backup of her computer files? When was the last time you backed up your computer (sorry, had to ask)? Do your mom a favor and make at least two backup copies of her most precious files. Keep one backup for your records, and have your mom store another copy in a safe place. You might want to take a look at NTI Shadow 2 (on sale until the end of the year) as a backup utility, if mom’s computer lacks one.
2. Like all moms, I bet yours has collected a bunch of photo files over the years. I am also confident that they are not as well organized as she thinks they are. Clean up her photographs by putting them in the My Pictures folder on her computer. Then download Picasa from Google and show her how to use it. Picasa, along with its online companion Hello, are your friends. They will make sending pictures to your mom much easier, and will make viewing pictures more pleasurable too.
3. Now that her pictures are all sorted out neatly, it’s time to buy her a nice LCD screen to get rid of that boat-anchor CRT monitor on her desk. Check your Black Friday ads.
4. While we’re thinking of hardware upgrades, why not get your mom some real speakers to replace those tiny, screeching ones that came with the computer? Your mom deserves better sound quality when she listens to music, right?
5. Install Firefox. Your mom will love it.
6. If your mom would like to keep one place to store notes, copies of web pages, and other clippings, setup Evernote for her. Given that Evernote lets you copy and categorize notes, web pages and clippings, this program will help her keep track of all kinds of stuff in one place.
7. Update the anti-virus software on her machine, as well as the spyware detection software. It has probably been a while since she had the latest, and greatest, virus definitions on her PC. I know you keep your virus definitions up to date, right? To keep spyware at bay, I like Adaware by Lavasoft.
8. Introduce your mom to the world of VoIP by purchasing Magic Jack (and it’s on sale this weekend at Radio Shack for just $30!) or setting up Skype. I am pretty confident that all moms would love to be able to chat with their children at any time. Even more inviting to most moms is when they can chat for free. I have written about this many times on my family blog, The Felix Five. my daughter’s classroom even uses Skype. Once you get this set up and actually use it you will be in love. My husband’s family lives in Mexico and now we not only get to talk with them but we get to see them….all for free. Let me tell you how much money that has saved our family.
9. Run a system check utility on her machine to clean out the cobwebs that slow down system performance. Systweak does a good job in cleaning up PCs.
10. Get her a real email account. Many moms (and dads for that matter) fall into the trap of using some default, arcane email address that was provided by their Internet provider. Make her email address a memorable one. Be a sport, move your mom onto a vanity domain name and have it forwarded to her favorite email address. Domain names can be bought for less than $9/year and will give your mom a special email address that is easy to remember (okay, this is sort of sentimental).
See, now that wasn’t so hard was it? I know you’ve got big plans for the coming four days, but I’m confident you can make your mom’s computing experience more enjoyable by just devoting a few minutes between the feast, football games and the Friday 5 a.m. Wal-Mart run that you plan every year. Happy Thanksgiving!
