You bought a brand new laptop computer for mom - the Apple Macbook was too expensive so you settled for a Dell machine loaded with Windows Vista and a trial copy of Office 2007.
Your mom is a great self-learner and knows all the basic stuff about computers but needs some help is in finding the right software tools that will help her do stuff more efficiently and as inexpensively as possible.
Letter to Mom suggesting tools and web apps for her new computer
Dear Mom - I hope you are enjoying the new Dell notebook. Now the first thing I want you to do is install PC Decrapifier - this will detect and remove all the unwanted trial programs that came pre-installed with your machine.
Next you should install Firefox - it’s an Internet Explorer like web browser but slightly better. Instead of using browser bookmarks, try the delicious add-on to save the addresses of all your favorite websites. Another add-on that you should install is Iterasi - web pages come and go but Iterasi will permanently archive your favorite web pages (like that eggless cake recipe).
You should create two email accounts one Gmail.com - share the primary email address with your friends and family but for everything else (like the newsletter and shopping deal alerts) always use the secondary email address. If you come across a site that requires registration, generate a temporary email address from 10MinuteMail.com and enter without sharing your main email.
With so many websites around, you’ll soon find it very hard to remember all those passwords so get into the habit of putting down all the different passwords into KeepPass from day one.
If you plan to carry this laptop in public places (like the Library), get this Laptop Alarm software that will emit a loud sound if someone tries to shut down your computer or remove the power cable. Laptop thefts are not so uncommon after all.
The trial version of Microsoft Office on your computer will expire after 60 days so you may completely uninstall that software and switch over to Google Docs - it has all the basic feature you would need in an Office suite including templates for tracking expenses and utility bills. You can use your primary Gmail address to log into Google Docs.
Sometimes your friends will send you documents, images or video clips that won’t open on your computer - that’s because you don’t have the right viewer software on your machine. You can simply go to zamzar.com and convert the file into some simple format (like avi for video, jpg for images, doc for documents, mp3 for songs, etc.) that you computer can play/open.
If the computer contains too many programs that you’ll rarely or never use, get the Revo Uninstaller to get rid of such programs permanently. To free up additional space on the hard drive, use WinDirStat to learn about file folders that are occupying the maximum space on your computer and delete the unnecessary files.
Be very careful when deleting files on your computer but if you ever delete something important accidently, Recuva may help you recover all those erased files. It even works with the memory card of your digital camera.
To download pictures from your digital camera onto the computer, get Windows Live Photo Gallery. This software can also upload your photos to our common family Flickr account so everyone gets to see your pictures even though we are several hundred miles away from you.
If the computer is not able to play your huge collection of DVD movies, you’re probably missing some codecs (don’t worry about the term) - just download the VLC player and the DVDs will play just fine.
You should also get Live Mesh - it will allow us to share files and documents with each other privately plus you can use Mesh to backup important files onto the cloud (I mean the web).
I am almost always available for chat on Google Talk but if some of your online friends use other chat software (like Yahoo! Messenger or AOL), you can easily connect with them through Miranda or, if you don’t want to install any software, use Meebo.
Another thing - do open an account at PayPal and link it to your main credit card as this will make online shopping easier. If you ever have a problem with PayPal or something isn’t clear, just call their toll-free 1-800 support number from your browser using Gizmo.
If your current voice plan is too expensive, I suggest that you download Skype - it lets you make calls from the computer to any landline or mobile phone at much cheaper rates. We can also use Skype to have video chats on weekends but if you don’t find me online, just send me a video email with Eyejot.
If you have newspaper clippings, bill receipts and business cards lying in the closet, just take a picture of them separately using the camera of your mobile phone and transfer them to the computer with Evernote - it will turn your "paper" documents into digital format that is always so easy to find and manage.
When planning a movie or weekend dinner with friends, you can send all of them a quick reminder for the event via phone and SMS for free using Notifu. If you’re inviting people at home for a party, head-over to sites like VideoJug.com, SuTree or 5min.com for new ideas about food, cocktails, party games, etc.
If you ever need to fax a document somewhere, just go to FaxZero, upload the document and fax it for free. FaxZero is only available for fax numbers of US or Canada but for international numbers, you may try eFax.
You can also consider dropping those magazine subscriptions that are delivered by snail mail - switch to Zinio instead that delivers the same magazine but in digital format.
As far as I remember, you’re currently using an unlimited data plan for the Internet but if that’s not true, get BitMeter - it will help you visually monitor your bandwidth usage so you never exceed the plan limit. You may also want to download FlashGet for downloading big files from the Internet.
If you notice carefully, some websites add an orange colored icon in the browser address bar (go to cnn.com to see a live example) - this icon means that you can get updates about new articles posted on that site automatically without having to visit the site again and again. If that’s the case, go to Feed My Inbox and type the address of that website - you’ll be notified automatically via email.
When browsing the web, you’ll frequently come across photographs, web pages and videos that you’ll want to share with us (your family members) - you could either send the link in a group mail or better still, simply create an account at Tumblr and start saving all the "interesting" stuff there.
And if you ever find yourself spending too much time on the computer, get RescueTime to know about websites where you spend most of your time.
There are a few other things that I want to do on your computer like installing a hosts file and configuring OpenDNS so that sites load quickly on your machine. These however require some geeky knowledge so I will try configuring them from here itself via CrossLoop - a remote desktop access tool.
Related: How to Rebuild a Slow Computer
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/software/essential-guide-to-internet-and-computer-software/6260/
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Free download manager is better than Flashget. Foxmarks is also important for backing up Firefox bookmarks and passwords.
Written by vinitneo on 12.29.08
Dont advise to use google doc, advise to download openoffice instead. After all, there may be private stuff you dont want google to know. Some things should be kept local.
Written by anonym on 12.29.08
nice write-up !! very useful for a newbie in computer world :)
Written by Amit on 12.29.08
Now that is an awesome assortment of MUST-HAVES! By far, one of the top posts of the year!
Thank you for the New Year present sir!
Written by Praval Singh on 12.29.08
Amit
Thank you for putting all the needs together and this shall be a study reference for all beginners.
Keep the good work going.
Written by Suresh on 12.29.08
For the first time I have used “Save Article as PDF”.It’s worth it to save.
This an incredible guide for First-Timers, but I think u missed two points here
1.Where is Wikipedia? A must for newbies.
2.How about saying something on PC/Internet Security?
I’d also recommend ‘Ccleaner’.
I bet this is going to be ur most popular post so far :)
Thanks Amit !
Written by Rohan on 12.29.08
Excellent letter! What would be the reply?!! I think this one of the best post for new Windows users..
Written by Windows Guy on 12.29.08
This is going to my mom for sure! (with some editing!)
Written by Dnyanesh on 12.29.08
This is brilliant! The only thing I would add would be links to freeware antivirus (Avast), firewall (Comodo), and anti-malware (Spybot, Ad-Aware). Otherwise I’m totally going to use this!
Written by PikaPikaChick on 12.29.08
Amit
Excellent narration. I hope that Mom is not perplexed.
Written by Chris Martin on 12.29.08
HI Anil
Great list. My mom actually just got a new laptop (HP, not Dell). I was thinking of writing a letter like this. Great timings and profuse thanks for this article.
Vinayak
Written by Vinayak on 12.29.08
WOW Amit, you rock.
Written by Rakesh on 12.29.08
Pretty neat guide. Yes, just about every mom needs to have a typical Macbook by default if they can afford it, but have to directly resort to a typical Dell laptop if you can’t go for a Mac. :P
I don’t think you should just directly tell everyone to download FF, but list the unique strengths of the most popular browsers, and see what they’ll like better. Every browser has their pros and cons, no matter how much attached we are to a particular one.
Do you really need two accounts? If you do have to give some e-mail for registration or anything, you can just block the e-mails if they come, or request to unsubscribe to them. I think it’s just easier if mom has one account to deal with and remember.
Eh, Google Docs is ok. But if there’s any possibility of affording Office 2007 Home & Student, she should go for it. It’s just the best there is, and I think mom will find it much easier to use than anything. There’s discounts on some websites, or you could just buy it preinstalled with your computer to avoid the hassle. I’m just thinking mom would like Office better. Especially when she’s sent files from her friends who kinda expect her to have Office.
What about Facebook though? I’m quite sure mom would like to hook up with old friends she hasn’t met for years.
You could also advise what you think are the best sites for certain things, like Google or Live Maps for mapping, Windows Live Translator for translating webpages and Google Translator for general translations. Stuff like that.
Great guide. It nails down most things, and I wasn’t even aware of some of them. You must be on the web like 24/7.
Written by Quikboy on 12.29.08
Very Nice Article Amit Sir. :)
Written by mrintech on 12.29.08
I believe the title is not apt,because this collection is useful not only for first time users but also for all.
very useful and important colletion.But amit left something regarding protection of PC.
Written by harsha on 12.29.08
Absolutely Great Article. Amit Agarwal Rocks.
Written by Adnan on 12.29.08
“PS - Mom, you _know_ you’re dumb when it comes to tech, don’t you? :|”
Written by Ankur Banerjee on 12.29.08
Amit,
This article is too good and is very useful you have consolidated all necessary stuffs that would be required when you get a new computer. Appreciate your effort in collating all these together in one article.
Regards
Satheesh
Written by Satheesh on 12.29.08
Great Article. I am sure you solved lots of trouble and saved tons of time for many folks.
Written by Abhishek on 12.29.08
One of the best blogpost i ever read :)
Written by Prashanth on 12.29.08
Nice, but still too geeky for my mom!
Written by abey on 12.29.08
a good article that reminds of all essential things.
Written by alok on 12.29.08
Really Good Work Amit. am a regular reader of ur blog
Written by Jose on 12.29.08
Amit, Thanks for great tips,Most of the tips are not only useful for beginners, even may experienced hands can pick many ideas from this posts.
Thanks
Written by George on 12.30.08
read just 5 lines but went on to save the complete page. INCREDIBLE
Written by saurabh on 12.30.08
I haven’t seen such a huge letter :)) , with all useful tips mentions for newbies, thanks, i think you have introduced something a new way of writing blog posts that I have never seen on other blogs,
Written by Hariharakumar on 12.30.08
Great list Amit! I’m happy to see that my site, 10MinuteMail.com, made it on. I’m very glad that people find it useful!
Have a great New Year!
Written by Devon Hillard on 12.30.08
Thanks Amit
If your mother is anything like mine, she will not be able to go through all these steps. You may want to give her a virtual machine with everything pre-configured and set to launch when she launches her computer. This might save her some learning curve. Alternatively, you can remotely install the stuff for her.
I would add PCTools antivirus to the list which you do not have to renew unlike AVG etc. Also WinUtils combines a lot of system cleaners in one and is a big time saver. It was free till yesterday. You might still be able to download it from ypsoftware.com and use the registration code from giveawayoftheday.com
I would also install logmein on her computer so that I do not have to ask her permission to maintain that computer. I will be able to log in and maintain it whenever it is turned on.
Instead of Google Talk, I would install Pidgin which combines all IM accounts into one. She will most probably like to use a normal phone to make calls.
For the adventurous, I would configure Mozilla thunderbird and lightning to allow her to send emails, read emails offline, using multiple email accounts and subscribe to news .
Another poster is right about using Google Docs too much. I would add the same caveat to faxing as well. Usually faxes contain very important information. A $20 fax machine will do the job just fine. Risk of sharing private information is simply not worth taking. Remember anything information you share online can and will probably last FOREVER and sometimes only the hindsight tells us what shouldn’t have shared and now it cannot be undone.
Back to Tools, there’s a nifty tool called WordWeb and using CTRL-ALT-W you can lookup the meaning of any word. It’s very handy and if you had to go to a website to look it up, you will probably not look it up at all.
Tech friendly mothers can also use CDBurnerXP burn CDs and DVDs but I know my mother would just store them using Picasa , if she knew how to use a Digital camera.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using OpenOffice. For some it can be easier to use than Office 2007 which has too many features. My mother would need somthing very very simple. I started using OpenOffice when my word installation was corrupted about two years back. I haven’t bothered to re-install Word since. OpenOffice works just fine for a light user like me so it should work for her as well.
Don’t forget to install some games for her. It’s the best way to learn the computers. May I suggest Ancient Sudoku and Mahjong? There’s nothing more frustrating than having a new toy and not being able to use it :-)
How about sending her one of these cheap external 2.5″ USB drives and doing an Acronis backup of the whole system? She can stow away the external drive except when it’s needed for a backup. That way you will not have to redo any of this work.
Also, tell her to do all banking by closing all browsers and launching Firefox in the safe mode.
Written by Rohit on 12.30.08
I forgot that she has a vista on the laptop. I would have given her an XP machine which has fewer driver compatibility problems and runs faster. I don’t think you need CDBurnerXP because vista ships with disc creating functions.
One more thing, create a non-admin user for her to use on this laptop and if you decide to give her a pre-configured virtual machine, make sure the virtual machine starts and logs in automatically so she doesn’t have to login twice.
Written by Rohit on 12.30.08
Very informative and well researched essay for the new user as well as the old ones i have recently joined the blog hence i was not aware of the ideas and suggedstion which you keeping studying for our benefit.
Written by Narendra Somani on 01.01.09
Hi Amit, a few cyber cafes refused to run my pendrive on their machines due to risk of virus infection. Is there any software to protect or scan my pendrive before copying files?
Written by Sajitha on 01.04.09
Sajitha,
There are two types of protections for your USB Drive.
1. Scanning for viruses
You can use PCTools Free Spyware and Antivirus tool for check your USB Drive for viruses.
2. Encrypting the contents so that only you can see what’s inside the USB Drive. You want to use TrueCrypt for this. link
Written by Rohit on 01.04.09
Great writeup Amit…there are obviously some missing from the list but very impressive thought.
Written by DemoGeek on 01.04.09
Is there any other alternative to Nero? Is there any free software?
Written by Raj on 01.09.09