As the self-appointed IT support team for my 88 year old father, I find some software tools better to use than others. At present, I am using Skype, Go2meeting, and the backup cell phone. I set him up with avast free-home edition and set him up to get automatic software updates from Microsoft as they become available.
Skype is nice to use as it serves up a video image with the help of a USB video camera, which is working so far for both of us. I use a headset with earphones and mike, and my dad's speakers work, but the microphone on his side seems to cut out every so often and when it does, I use the cell phone as a backup to talk.
Go2meeting is a nice little application, as it allows me to see his screen, but for some reason he cannot see the control panel so I cannot take over his mouse and keyboard (yet). I tried to take a snapshot of the panel on my side so that I could show him what to look for, but the G2M control panel does not capture in a screen shot. I did find a picture on the go2meeting web site under the user guides, but my dad still cannot find it. Oh well.
My dad just bought a Windows 7 dual core 64 bit dell desktop, which is a nice machine. I visited him in Washington DC (I am in Oregon) and set it up when I was there and it has been working for the last 3 months. He is using AOL for email and browsing for the most part and seems to be keeping in touch with his friends for the most part. I tried loading AOL desktop v10 but it could not send email so I loaded version 9.5 and it is working better.
Any other recommendations are welcome, so please share.
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