Note, I’m not looking for anything malacious here, I actually like my boss, so let’s forget about anything illegal/harmful.
I have his PC because he’s a complete techno-illiterate and it got clobbered with viruses. I had to do a total re-format and re-install (plus swap out the power supply) to get it up and running. I’ve installed anti-virus, firewall, and pop-up blockers on the thing so that hopefully I won’t have to do this again. (I’ve even enabled the auto update functions on those things so I don’t have to worry about him not doing it, and then me having to redo the whole thing again.) I’ve also updated XP with all the patches for it (and enabled the auto-update feature for that as well).
So, I’m looking for ideas of what else to put on his box that he might need (or might be kind of funny [anybody got a vb program that’ll cause a pop up to show up every six months that says, “Tuckerfan needs a raise!” ] ). He’s a big hunting/fishing/NASCAR nut.
The specs on the box are that it’s an HP 551w with a 1.6 Ghz P-4 processor, 120 MB RAM and a 40 gig HD.
Oh, and he’s also got kids and a wife, so let’s keep it at a PG-13 rating. Thank you.
I didn’t see you mention Adaware and Spybot.
I’ve always been tempted to swap a few of the keys on the keyboard around. Such as ‘a’ with ‘e’.
And also tinker with word’s autocorrect feature so that ‘the’ gets replaced with ‘teh’ and his first name with ‘custard’
Heh, he’s a hunt and pecker, so keyswap wouldn’t do slow him down much. Did put AdAware and Spybot on there, just forgot to mention it. (Also installed Realplayer, Flash, Shockwave, and Quicktime, since it takes eons to download them on a dial up like he has, and I’ve got a cable modem.)
Are you going to install Outlook, or some other prog with a calender? You could likely add a recurring appt “Give Tuckerfan a raise” to repeat at whatever interval you want.
Install Linux on it. IMHO, Windows isn’t safe enough(viruses, spyware,ect) for the techically challenged to use. Also, the look on your bosses face when it starts up will be priceless.
But if you decide to stick with a Windows -
Get Firefox and convince your boss to use that instead of Internet Exploder. That will keep quite a bit of spyware from getting on the machine in the first place. Show your boss how to use the tabbed browsing as well. Also, I would reccomend using Thunderbird or some other email, rather than Outlook. Also, get Media Player Classic, WinAmp, or VLC, to replace Windows Media Player.
Once you take IE, Outlook, and WMP out of the picture, Windows actually becomes half-way secure.
Also, you might want to try and talk your boss into upgrading the RAM his PC - WindowsXP crawls with only 128MB of RAM. Even an upgrade to 256 will make things run much more smoothly, especially if you have a virus checker and firewall running in the background.
Random, as much as I like your idea about Linux, I don’t really relish the thought of having to redo it all over again. (And explaining to him how to use it, and trying to find ISP software that would work with it…)
I thought about installing Opera as his browser, and then quickly discounted it. He’s going to switch ISPs here soon, and I’ve no idea of what one he’s going to be switching to, and getting the browser to work with some ISPs could be difficult (if not impossible). He barely understands what he’s doing with the thing, so throwing a lot of odd-ball stuff on there (Not that I use a lot of M$ products on my box, but then again, I know what the hell I’m doing with the thing most of the time.) would just confuse him to no end (and I really can’t afford to spend any more of my free time training him on how to use the thing).
Good point about the RAM, though. Hadn’t thought of that. Will mention it to him tomorrow.
Install the Ace Mega Codecs pack and then you won’t have to worry about him downloading spyware when he needs a video or audio codec. It tends to change the configuration of tour audio and video players so you’ll have to tinker around after installing to get it back the way you wanted. ASAIK it doesn’t come with any spyware or anything to muck the system up. I use it with no ill effects.
I brought a german keyboard home and swapped mr aru’s keyboard out…he always logs in first thing when he wakes up and does email…the results were … creatively spelled=) took him half an hour and a pot of coffee to notice=)
Firefox and Mozilla are based on the same code, and the general surfing experience is about the same - Firefox, in my experience, loads up faster and uses much less RAM, though it lacks built in mail & some other stuff. If all you want is a browser, use Firefox; if you want a suite of internet programs, use Mozilla.
In addition, delete all icons and menu directions to the MS programs, so he can’t access them even if he wants to (I’m presuming he wouldn’t know to use Start-Run)
Second thoughts - use Xteq Setup to remove access to Run, Control Panel, etc., and then delete that program (obvioulsy keep a handy copy elsewhere). This should thoroughly castrate his screwup capabilities.
And his ability to do anything else with the box. If he doesn’t see IE on the desktop, he’ll go nuts. Explaining to him that the other programs are better alternatives won’t work, either. He views computers as a necessary evil and uses his as little as possible. This is also his personal computer, not the company’s, so I’d not only have to teach him how to use the thing, but his family as well. Then, of course, there’d be his kid, who probably knows almost as much about PCs as I do, who’d figure out ways of undoing such things. (And would be encouraged to, because his parents would be upset that “The computer isn’t working the way it’s supposed to.”)
If you’re likely to have to support his PC remotely, then I’d recommend installing something like TightVNC on it (with a long password composed of random characters) - even on dialup, it should enable you to at least see what it is he’s talking about when he has a problem.
OK, rename the Mozilla icon as “Internet Explorer”, and using the IE icon. And download the skin that closest resembles IE. As long as Flash is installed, I can’t offhand think of anything in Mozilla’s behaviour that doesn’t replicate IE. It just does more besides.
And set up separate accounts for work and home. And explain, very nicely, that anything that happens on the ‘home’ account is of no concern to you as an employee, and as a responsible employer he won’t let his kid screw around with the ‘work’ account.
Except, of course, he doesn’t use the PC at his home for any work related matters. Trust me, the most this box gets used for is slandering people anonymously and the downloading of porn. What you’re suggesting will confuse the bloody hell out of him, and I’ll be spending hours upon hours trying to show him how things work in it. Plus, if he or his kid manages to foul the box up again (highly likely no matter what I do), I’ll have to go through the whole process again. Besides, if, as you say, Mozilla does more than IE (I’ve tried Mozilla and didn’t like it as well as I like Opera, so I’ve got no experience with it.), then when he starts poking around in all the other features in it and manages to foul the box up that way, I’ll have to try to unfutz it. And if that doesn’t happen, he’ll be bombarding me with questions that I can’t answer. At least with the way the box is set up now, I can fix it in an hour or so if he screws everything up.
The whole “account” thing, alone, will be confusing to him, since we don’t have any such set up at work.
Windows XP already includes Remote Desktop, which will allow the same thing. Until you mentioned that the computer is personal property, I was going to suggest giving him limited rights to the system, rather than making him a local administrator. But you might still do this, so he can’t install anything when he’s logged in and provide the Administrator account password separately. (If the boss’s kid is sophisticated enough, you might give the admin account password only to him.)
Yeah, well, dad’s smart enough to know that if he let’s the kid do it, then the kid’ll lock him out of the computer. (Hey! It’s what I would have done if the internet existed when I was a kid.)
] ). He’s a big hunting/fishing/NASCAR nut.