grandparents and computers

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hamish225

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#126943 24-Jul-2013 17:13

so my nana has had a computer now for about 10 years (shes in her 80's)

lately ive noticed whenever i go over there she complains that her homepage has changed and last time there was even a toolbar on her google chrome.

its coming from the games she downloads, she doesn't untick the 'please change my home page and default search providers to *insert awful search provider here*' boxes and ends up with a computer full of adware and spyware.

what i want to know is if there's a way to permanently stop third party programs from changing her settings and installing toolbars and browser addons without making her account a limited one as she likes to play games and download new games, i cant be there to install them for her all the time either.

it never used to be this bad, i think recently lots of 'free' software has been including all these tricky extras during installation and if you don't read it very very carefully they install other little bits that no one wants. Sometimes dispite even my best efforts they manage to install.

any ideas?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

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#865480 25-Jul-2013 02:10

Have you tried installing Malwarebytes on her computer and setting it to actively monitor the computer? Failing that, perhaps set it up for remote access so you can periodically login to it and clean it out.

My father has the same issue and keeping his PC clean is a nightmare in frustration.

cyril7

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#865529 25-Jul-2013 07:47

Hi, I agree with Elpie, install a teamviewer instance and do regular remote house keeping, its what I end up having to do. Although the one I find is my mum uses Gmail, and whenever they make a minor change to the interface (as they have done recently) she thinks the machine has a virus, because it changed :(

Cyril

hairy1

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#865531 25-Jul-2013 07:56

Yes. +1 for teamviewer. It is great for sorting issues. Trying to visualise what is happening works most of the time but sometimes it is just impossible to work out what is being displayed on their screen!

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

PaulBags

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#865723 25-Jul-2013 11:19

cyril7: Hi, I agree with Elpie, install a teamviewer instance and do regular remote house keeping, its what I end up having to do. Although the one I find is my mum uses Gmail, and whenever they make a minor change to the interface (as they have done recently) she thinks the machine has a virus, because it changed :(

Cyril

Gmail: basic html view. My interface hasn't changed for years, and there's no fancy crud I don't need, I love it. I think the option to enable it is kinda hidden, you have to disable javascript then log in, it won't work and will ask if you want to switch to basic html, click yes, log out and re-enable javascript then log back in to make sure it worked.

ajobbins

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#865774 25-Jul-2013 12:11

Once my grandparents finally moved from Dial Up to ADSL a couple of years ago I made sure I installed LogMeIn so that I can get access to their machine and help them out.

Makes it so much easier than them ringing up and trying to describe things over the phone.

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bfginger

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#866326 26-Jul-2013 08:54

Where is she getting these games from??

hamish225

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#866424 26-Jul-2013 10:37

bfginger: Where is she getting these games from??

big fish games is one, there are other places but i cant remember what they're called

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

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kiwijunglist

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#866462 26-Jul-2013 11:22

+1 Team Viewer.

I'm not sure but maybe a non mainstream browser will solve the toolbar issues (maybe not the homepage issue). Home page issue can be fixed by making a script that resets the default homepage on starting windows or periodically resets it every 30 minutes.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

hamish225

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#866794 26-Jul-2013 19:30

kiwijunglist: +1 Team Viewer.

I'm not sure but maybe a non mainstream browser will solve the toolbar issues (maybe not the homepage issue). Home page issue can be fixed by making a script that resets the default homepage on starting windows or periodically resets it every 30 minutes.

not sure how to do the scripting thing, is it easy?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

kiwijunglist

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#866825 26-Jul-2013 20:37

I imagine that if you wanted to do it you could figure it out within an hour via google. Method would depend on browser. Might even be able to do it with a batch.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

raytaylor

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#866919 26-Jul-2013 23:56

hamish225:
kiwijunglist: +1 Team Viewer.

I'm not sure but maybe a non mainstream browser will solve the toolbar issues (maybe not the homepage issue). Home page issue can be fixed by making a script that resets the default homepage on starting windows or periodically resets it every 30 minutes.

not sure how to do the scripting thing, is it easy?

When i was learning, it was super hard to understand.
Im dyslexic but the moment someone showed me how to do it, it was super easy.

So i made you a video that shows you how to export some registry settings for internet explorer's homepage to a reg file, and use a batch script in the startup folder to remerge it into the registry each time the computer boots up.

Enjoy.

Ray Taylor

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AppleJackXD

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#866927 27-Jul-2013 00:21

The toolbars will be in software and programs uninstall them then go to chrome settings and remove the homepages that are in the list of search engines then they will be gone. Malwarebytes wont remove it for you you gotta do it your self. I had the dj search homepage problem so i know how
to remove this stuff.

.

kiwijunglist

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#866934 27-Jul-2013 00:36

^ I think you could probably just save the .reg file directly into startup folder for all users :) and skip everything else. No need for .bat file. ... .reg files are automatically imported in windows os when you run them directly :) It's a shame you can't export a single key.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

raytaylor

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#866945 27-Jul-2013 01:20

kiwijunglist: ^ I think you could probably just save the .reg file directly into startup folder for all users :) and skip everything else. No need for .bat file. ... .reg files are automatically imported in windows os when you run them directly :) It's a shame you can't export a single key.

Thats interesting to know :-)

edit: just tried it on win7pro - putting the reg file in the start menu startup folder.
It still prompts for merge confirmation.
The bat file is able to call the silent switch so it merges without asking the user.
I suppose a shortcut could be made to
c:\windows\regedit.exe /s c:\homepage.reg
which would probably also do the same thing.

However by using a batch file, the op will be able to reset many other things as well.

Personally i am used to small business networks so my first instinct when fixing a problem or enforcing a policy on an office computer is to ask myself "How can i roll this out to all computers without leaving my desk"
...netlogon.bat yay :-)

OH ALSO ANOTHER TIP FOR THE OP
Windows Steadystate.

We used steadystate on the computers at our old internet cafe. Each time the computer is rebooted, the hard drive is restored back. When you shutdown the computer, it prompts you to save changes or not. It dedicates about 50% of the hard drive space to the master image from the last save to achieve this though. So if you download malware or a virus, just reboot the computer without clicking the save button that is injected into the shutdown screen.
If you dont select save, when the computer boots up, it reloads the hard drive "state" from the last saved copy. Takes only seconds during the startup process.

Its a free tool for windows xp from microsoft. I also have it running in some primary schools.

It does mean you have to specifically boot up the computer and install the software - then shut it down again to hard save the changes.

Store the outlook data on a secondary partition so things like emails and documents can be kept between sessions.

Ray Taylor

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PaulBags

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#866946 27-Jul-2013 01:27

But wouldn't running the .reg file directly cause it to prompt on every start up? You don't want that.

Instead of creating a .reg file and linking to it, it would be simplier to chuck the following in your batch file:
reg add "hkcu\software\microsoft\Internet Explorer\main" /v "start page" /d "http://www.google.co.nz/" /f

reg is the command line version of regedit, so reg /? will help you out pretty well.

Another idea, instead of running on startup replace all their IE shortcuts with shortcuts to the batch file, and have it set the homepage every time, then load IE. That way you avoid boot > install game > go to browse the net and oh noes the homepage changed.

[edit]

The following works well for me on windows 7, and should work in vista and xp as well. All you really need is the last two lines.

@echo off
title Opening Internet Explorer
echo Don't Panic :)
reg add "hkcu\software\microsoft\Internet Explorer\main" /v "start page" /d "http://www.google.co.nz/" /f
start iexplore

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