I helped my 77 year old mother purchase a new laptop, and I want to be sure to get all the bloatware off of it, and set her up with with some better privacy options. I am aMac guy at home so I haven’t done this kind of thing for many years. (I use Windows at work, so I’m quite familiar and capable, but obviously I have to rely on IT knowing what they are doing (they don’t)). I did make sure to get the pro version of Windows 11. I’m going to set her up with Proton mail I think. This is the computer that is coming:
(Forgive me if this is not the correct place to post)
Unfortunately that stripped down versions are very unsafe because of removed antivirus features and sometimes they even include malware. I don’t recommend that for a casual user who doesn’t know what safety on the internet is
They aren’t actually that dangerous. You can always reinstall any thing you need. Plus you can create your own assuming OP is savvy enough.
Well yea that’s true. But viruses are still really hard to avoid on Windows
Oh contrare mon frare. They are extremely easy to avoid if you have any common sense. Don’t download and run just any old exe, use script blockers on browsers, etc. I used to run avast and malware bytes, etc but for at least a few years now windows built in protection has been enough.
If OP is asking these questions it means they are probably capable of getting her setup with a system that is a bit cleaner and stays clean assuming she doesn’t start downloading random weird porn shit or something.
I don’t think she understands how to define official/fake websites and that kind of stuff. That’s the thing. Linux will be a better choice here
Your making an assumption and your infantilizing someone you’ve never met. It’s entirely possible that she is old enough that even if she did have the ability to discern this stuff that she’s more likely to fall for shit, but it’s also possible that she can learn how to spot stuff and avoid it. It’s been awhile since I have played with Linux, is it really ready for prime time? Especially if someone had spent decades using windows?
You aren’t OP and again your assuming and infantilizing. Remember that it’s those over 50, 60, etc that brought us the tech that evolved into what we are using now.
As for the spotting scams, fakes, etc, that not an age thing, that is something you have to be taught and learn from experience. There are 20 year olds who fall for the crypto spam and websites. This is why I suggest using noscript, ublock origin and maybe even a vpn that also blocks this shit. Though with the script blockers people need to be taught how to tell which domain is probably safe to enable. I sometimes have to go through and allow certain ones until the site works well enough to be usable.
For the record. I’m soon to be 43 and my wife is soon to be 54. My wife is less tech savvy than me but is definitely not an easy mark for scams and definitely knows more about computers than some people younger than her.