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advice on security setup for my elderly inlaws

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Stoic Joker:
Ransomware - No amount of user lockdown is going to prevent them from breaking their own stuff.

Trying to hide in/on an obscure platform ultimately makes one more vulnerable because in the new platform agnostic attack age everybody gets a turn, and the ones that think they're 'safe' tend to get hit the worst.

Either Malwarebytes, or one of the other anti-ransomware options available probably would be a good thing to add. As well as locking down the outbound firewall rules in an attempt to make Motherships and C&C channels at least a bit harder to contact.

dr_andus:
Trying to hide in/on an obscure platform ultimately makes one more vulnerable because in the new platform agnostic attack age everybody gets a turn, and the ones that think they're 'safe' tend to get hit the worst.
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2016, 07:00 AM)
--- End quote ---

Are you calling Chrome OS an "obscure platform"?  :)

It might not be the most widely used platform, but it's now used in over 50% of US schools, and part of that is (besides it being idiot-proof) the security. You can't run a .exe file on it. Enough said. How confident is Google about this security? See exhibit 1:

Google Will Pay You $100,000 to Hack a Chromebook

And it's not about just hiding in the platform. It's genuinely easier to use and less hassle to maintain, and quite possibly a faster and better browsing experience. Perfect for minimising service calls from in-laws... I'm speaking from experience.  ;)

Jibz:
Using Ninite (double-click the 'N' on your desktop if something needs updating), Chrome (keeps itself and flash updated) along with a good adblocker and WoT (only click links with a green thingy next to them when you google) has worked reasonably for my relatives. But there are people who insist on clicking every banner that says "Your computer is in danger!", and they are hard to help.

I would be tempted to suggest a Chromebook for some of my family members as well. You just have to be sure they will not end up needing to run some software that requires Win/Mac. We bought a Chromebook for our son to take to school, since they were using google docs for schoolwork. I think it is a very nice device, and I certainly am thrilled at the prospect of not having to update software and OS myself. (For anyone interested, it's a Dell Chromebook 11 Touch. I chose that because it's light, reasonably sized, can take a beating, and has a keyboard that can survive a spill. He's really happy he got the Touch version, probably mostly because he likes to play games.)

Another option is to make sure a backup plan is in place that allows you to roll back the computer to a working state.

dr_andus:
Chrome (keeps itself and flash updated) along with a good adblocker
-Jibz (May 09, 2016, 09:07 AM)
--- End quote ---

Yup, that's essential. uBlock Origin is a good one, and also Magic Actions for Youtube.

Here is a list of suggestions I came up with the other day for setting up a Chromebook for first-time users who are not very computer-savvy:


* Set up their favourite daily services to open in tabs at launch automatically
* Set up the bookmark toolbar for them with bookmarks for their most used services (Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Drive etc.)
* set up Speed Dial 2 for new tabs to make it easy to access content sites such as news and online TV
* Show them how to use full-screen button and the bottom shelf to auto-hide to make screen area bigger
* Show them how to save, keep and organise their files on Google Drive (rather than on the local drive - or how to upload downloaded files such as PDFs from the local drive to Google Drive)
* install uBlock Origin and Magic Actions for Youtube to get rid of all the advertising
* install Tab Activate (to open new tabs immediately instead of in the background)
* teach them some basic trackpad gestures (two-finger scrolling, right-clicking, opening links in new tabs)
--- End quote ---

mouser:
what jibz said makes sense -- if they only need what's on a chromebook, it's a nice solution.

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