How do I set up a computer for someone older?
Fewer choices, larger text, and a way for you to help remotely — plus the conversation about scams.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Make the screen readable, remove everything they will not use, and set up remote support before you need it. And have the scam conversation — it matters more than any setting.
Most difficulty with computers is not capability, it is being presented with too many equally-weighted options. Reducing what is on screen is more effective than any amount of instruction.
Step by step
- Ask what they actually want to do.Email, photographs, video calls, news, shopping, a specific hobby. Usually four or five things. Design around that list rather than around a general-purpose computer.
- Make it readable first.Increase the display scaling, not just the font size — it enlarges buttons and menus too. Increase contrast, and set the mouse pointer larger and slower if that helps.
- Reduce the desktop to what they use.Large shortcuts to the four or five things on the list, clearly labelled, and nothing else. Remove the pre-installed clutter that came with the machine.
- Set up email and a browser simply.One browser, one email account, bookmarks bar visible with the sites they use. Turn off the notifications and the news feeds on the home page.
- Set up remote support now.The single most useful thing you can do. Both platforms and several free tools allow you to see and control their screen with permission. It turns an hour on the phone into five minutes.
- Set up automatic updates and backup.Both automatic and both silent. They will not do it manually, and both matter — updates for security, backup for the photographs.
- Have the scam conversation.More important than every setting. No legitimate company phones about a computer problem, no pop-up asking you to call a number is real, and nobody who contacted you first should ever have remote access. Agree they can always hang up.
- Write it down and leave it with them.One page, large print, with pictures of their actual screen. Far more useful than a demonstration, and it means they can try without ringing you.
Tips
- Set yourself up as a recovery contact on their accounts. It saves a great deal of difficulty later, and it needs doing while they can authorise it.
- A larger monitor is a genuine accessibility improvement and often more useful than any software change.
- Do not remove things because you would not use them. Ask first — assumptions about what an older person wants are frequently wrong.
Questions people ask
What is the most useful thing to set up?
Remote support, so you can see their screen when they need help. It converts a frustrating phone call into a few minutes, and it is the thing people wish they had set up earlier.
How do I make a computer easier to see?
Increase the display scaling rather than just the font size — it enlarges buttons and menus too. Then increase contrast and make the pointer larger.