Nyaa-hyaa-hyaa! You thought this was about ME, didn’t you?
My Dad has been using his Macbook 10.8.5 for Skype (6.15(335)) calls perfectly happily until yesterday, when one of two things happened:
1 He ballsed up his sign-in and figured Skype was busted.
2 Skype no longer works with his OS no matter what version of Skye it’s loaded with.
Anyway, he’s an impatient sod and immediately downloaded the latest version of Skype which I have told him many times is incompatible with his machine (that banging sound you’re hearing is my head against the desk), in the process losing his old version.
I’ve found links for downloading the old version he trashed, and earlier versions supposedly compatible with his OS., emailed them to him. No use me downloading the app because it would see what machine I was on and download the latest version again.
We have had very limited success with that app that allows remote operation of his Mac, and I am absolutely sure it would be beyond him now.
As I said, he’s an impatient sod and it’s all I can do to stop him clicking the one-click button at Amazon and seeing a grand disappear from his slender bank account. He already has TWO old macbooks gathering dust because of similar approaches to updates.
I can’t see him updating the operating system. Not an option. He peers at the screen through a kind of welder’s mask with Mad Scientist lenses. It would be difficult for him to get across town to do business with the monobrowed Mac Genius and ask him to do it. Not impossible, but I can see him raising all kinds of objections.
What can be done? He relies on our daily Skype calls to give me rolling news on his sandwich du jour and the new doctor up the clinic.
I have a cheap PC in mind, dedicated to Skype. I have no idea which model, or if it comes with Skype installed or what. I know Skpe can be run on a smartphone, but Dad doesn’t have one, and the learning curve (and the billing) would drive us both nuts, and me to an early grave.
Any help gratefully received. Really.
H.P. Saucecraft says
*INCOMING SKYPE CALL SOUND*
Dogbyte says
As a short term measure why not try Skype For Web https://web.skype.com/ which allows you to run Skype in a browser?
If you’re looking at getting a cheap Windows PC, Skype is now built in to Windows 10 and is part of the Windows update process so it gets automatically patched with the latest versions/fixes. That makes it harder – though not impossible – to screw up.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is very interesting. Thank you.
H.P. Saucecraft says
‘Od does zees skype-for web work, then? It’s all greyed out. Also – do both callers have to use the browser-based Skype, or can one be on regular Skype?
H.P. Saucecraft says
Tried again – in Opera, the page loads correctly, but each button shows a “no entry sign” when I float the cursor above it. I understand I have to download a plug-in, but there’s no way I can get the site to do anything other than show my account details.
In Safari, the pages are broken. Hideous oversized Times Roman text everywhere, no graphis, nothing works.
mikethep says
What about an iPad? Or cheaper equivalent, e.g. amazon Fire. V popular with the old folk, I gather, and pretty easy to use. Won’t stop him stuffing up his Skype login though.
My mother is 97 too, and her computer days are long over. I communicate via the telephone, works remarkably well. Worth a thought …
H.P. Saucecraft says
iPad totally new OS he’d have to learn. No go. Amazon Fire too small.
Twang says
There’s basically nothing to learn on an ipad. I got my mum one and she’s got her entire equally ancient siblings on them so they must be simple. Button to switch on, tap Skype app. Off you go. No log in or stuff like that.
Junior Wells says
Yebbut touch pad v keyboard > bridge too far methinks
H.P. Saucecraft says
That’s it, Junior. Dad does not get on with touch screens. But it’s on the option list.
Artery says
As you know I live in Coventry and willing to help. Moreover, my wife Pauline is very computer literate, though we’ve never owned Macs. Also, I have a couple of old (think 2005 or later) Windows towers and FS monitors sitting on top of a wardrobe doing nothing. I certainly wouldn’t want anything for them. May even be set up for Skype as my daughter was living in the US in 2008 and we certainly used to Skype her then. Even got the Cam and handset in my drawer gathering dust. Old keyboard and mouse too. Probably set up with XP from memory.
Get in touch by PM.
Robin
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks, Robin – I’ll be in touch tomorrow. Going to beat my head against a pillow for a change … I think he’d prefer a laptop, space being at a premium.
SteveT says
Have you tried carrier pigeon?
Junior Wells says
Carrier pigeons are for the birds
retropath2 says
Apple Face Time as an alternative? Or Facebook messenger as an alternative. Both worked fine, video and audio, when Mrs Path3 was in Turkey last month. From my mac book to her i-pad with the former, my mac book to her nokia the latter. And back again.
https://www.imore.com/facetime
retropath2 says
Or WhatsApp for that matter, phone and video and text
https://www.whatsapp.com
H.P. Saucecraft says
FaceTime we tried some time ago with limited success. I think it now needs an Apple ID ? That’s not an option, unfortunately. Neither is Facebook – he’s not on it, and neither am I. We are dealing with someone with very limited online abilities and very poor vision (my dad’s not too good either lol) and I don’t want to make him go through account sign-ups/passwords/whatever if I can avoid it.
Sewer Robot says
If you were a besotted teenager and your Dad was the object of your affection I’d be tempted to advise that all this “What’s that? I’m afraid you’re breaking up. I’m going to have to hang up now. Yeah, my phone’s been out of action for a fortnight – thanks so much for coming round to fix it” style tech difficulty shenanigans was a dead giveaway that “she’s just not into you”. But I’m sure that’s not the case with your dear old Dad…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I had a similar problem a year or so back with my what’s-a-bloody-update-all-about-nothing-wrong-with-my-computer-I hate- computers father-in-law. I restrained him from wheeling his Zimmer frame round to PC World and over the phone helped him update (to Sierra was it?).
It was painful (“Which box, what box, there’s no box, I hate computers”) but eventually we got there.
A few weeks later another phone session saw us setting up automatic updates on his machine (“Why can’t they just leave things alone, why keep changing, I hate computers”) which was relatively simple, he only swore twice – System Preferences, Automatic updates – “no, Mike , double-click does not mean hammer the touchpad constantly, ok let’s start again, no Mike don’t slam the lid down, why don’t you have a wee whisky and I’ll ring back, yes I know you hate computers”.
By the way I used an online tutorial from the Apple help desk for the update (“Can you see a button named “don’t press this or you’ll break the internet?”)
Junior Wells says
Just on this I think the key is that he continues to use Skype and a keyboard as that familiarity is an essential base.
Can’t you just get someone to go around and gizmo what he has now if it is a log in thing then go to plan b if it is an operating thing.
H.P. Saucecraft says
If it is a log-in thing he’s scuppered it by downloading the latest version of Skype which we knew (but he forgot) doesn’t work on his Mac. I found a replacement download link for his old version, but apparently that doesn’t fly either. The problem is he doesn’t know what he’s doing (neither do I). I’m going to see him in September so it’ll be sorted then, but would like not to have to wait that long.
Peanuts Molloy says
Hello @h-p-saucecraft
This may or may not be helpful . . .
My daughter lives in Dubai and we Skype regularly. A couple of weeks ago it went tits up and it was not easy to establish why . . . some opinions were that the UAE had blocked the service (which has happened before, later quickly rescinded) but a Google search at the time suggested that Skype had been hacked, thus causing connection difficulties.
For us, the service with Dubai is back to normal which suggests that the hacking, rather than the blocking service scenario was the problem. So, if the hacking thing was true, your Dad may have been caught up in that which means that Skype is still there but your Dad’s access to it has been spoiled by his “panic button pressing”.
As I say. I don’t know how this moves things forward but . . . here we are.
I live not tooo far from Coventry and if I can help please say so.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks Mr Molloy. It may have been hacking, but I don’t think so.
I’m going to try skype-for-web first, as an interim solution, and then I think I’ll be looking at Windows 10 laptops (with the Arteries’ help).
Thanks for all these replies. Ten years ago, at the sprightly age of 87, my dad was skipping up the steps of a large jet-powered airliner to join us out here. He’d cycle around town, beat me at gin rummy, twinkle at the girls, and stroll blithely through scorpion and snake-infested undergrowth (the whole world being merely an extension of his back garden). Those ten years make a dramatic difference, and it’s been a sobering thing for both of us to accommodate his declining abilities, mental and physical. There’ll come a time when he’s not up to using the internet, and from what I see there’s not much thought given to his demographic by computer and software designers. He’s not capable of setting up voice control, and I have doubts about that anyway. Nearly everything on the screen is just too damn tiny. He really does wear a high-powered magnifying visor, almost touching the screen, but that doesn’t help his astigmatism, which places a blind spot at his focal point. And what we youngsters think of as simple computer operations are for him vexing and often make the situation worse. I’m hoping to continue Skype with him for as long as possible, but it’s not going to be long before that door shuts too.
Yes, there’s the phone, but he likes to see my family and dogs, and he still finds it miraculous that he can drone on about sandwiches and the new doctor up the clinic without incurring a phone bill.
Years ago, when I was at something of a loose end in Cambodia, pre-mobile phones, I called him from a landline phone hooked up in the street by an enterprising local businessman with a plastic chair and a round dial phone, and hearing his voice was something of a miracle too. Skype, over the years, has turned into a duty for me (I don’t have much input, as he can’t take it in, and most of what he has to say I’ve heard before, many times) but it is something of a lifeline for him.
mikethep says
I sympathise. The reason I use the phone is that my mum is incapable of using anything else. She can’t see a computer screen, or even the tv, and no longer has the cognitive function to use them even if she could. Her world has shrunk to Radio 4, meals on wheels and a daily visit from a carer. She’ll be going into a home soon, if she doesn’t die first (though she shows no signs of doing so), so I’m hoping that her world might at least get a touch more interesting.
At least my sisters are nearby. Which only adds to my guilt, of course…
bricameron says
Maybe your Dad’s just gone mad and he wants you to leave him alone in the little peace he has left on this earth and you’re buggering it up for him?
Disclaimer.
Lemon Thai.
MC Escher says
Maybe you should think twice before posting
H.P. Saucecraft says
He meant no harm. Which is really what matters.
bricameron says
Thanks, H.P.
Hope you get everything sorted out for your Dad.
❤️
davebigpicture says
Age UK offer computer training courses. It may be worth contacting them to see if they have a trusted person who could visit to troubleshoot your dad’s problem.
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/work-and-learning/technology-and-internet/computer-training-courses/
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks – my dad’s problem is age, though.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
It does seem just a little bonkers to buy a new machine just because the present one needs updates installed. Even the smallest town in the UK these days seems to have a little shop staffed by two nerdy blokes who spend most of their days helping OAPs with computer problems from cracked screens to “What the hell is Windows 10?”
Maybe you could phone the nearest one to your Dad and ask for a home visit – can’t see that costing more than 50 quid?
H.P. Saucecraft says
It needs a complete new OS installed. As I said, the local-ish Mac Idiot might be able to do this, bit he doesn’t make house calls. This is a major operation, and he’d have to back up all his photographs and whatnot and reinstall that and the other apps I got for him, and I’d rather not “go there” – especially as The Mac Moron was very short with him the last time he trudged out there.
Currently battling skype-by-web, which is a total bust for me on three browsers.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Installing a new OS really isn’t that difficult – you don’t need a Mac Moron just a friendly nerd. I’m sure there must be a friendly nerd nearby if my experience in Shoreham, a wee town on Tyneside or a sleepy village in remotest Norfolk is anything to go by.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Yes, but that’s you, a fully-functioning adult who can think in a straight line. Finding a real Mac Genius – not some preening hipster pulling down a good salary for being a twat – is not that easy, relying mostly on personal recommendation. I’ve tried on the net and had no luck, and it’s beyond Dad, whose network consists of the new doctor up the clinic and his neighbour with Alzheimer’s. And it’s certainly not something I could talk him through.
So – again – I’m not ticking this box. Unless you’re prepared to personally hack into the Mac Geek network that undoubtedly exists in Coventry.
GCU Grey Area says
Not a genius, but if I was 15 miles rather than 150 from Cov, I’d be happy to help.
davebigpicture says
Can Apple help? Their help desk has talked me through a couple of things very well. They could use Remote Desktop rather than trying to get your dad to click on stuff. Shouldn’t an independent Apple service centre be able to do this too rather than having to take the machine in (assuming you can find some one willing to do it)?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I dropped these guys an email with the broad details (including “he’s 97″) and they responded within minutes ” I’m sure we can help”
http://www.cvpcrepair.co.uk/computer-services/mac-repair-coventry/
Junior Wells says
Nice work Lodes
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks, Lodestone!
H.P. Saucecraft says
Rolling news … this just in …
During a couple of visits, Steve from the above-linked company installed Sierra and got his Skype up and running. There were the inevitable complications that my Dad couldn’t have handled, but Steve has proved to be exactly the man we need to help him out, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time we use him. Thoroughly recommended.
Thanks to all for their helpful suggestions, especially the Arteries and Lodestone Of Wrongness (what a great, great name!)
@henpetsgi
@Artery
minibreakfast says
Hooray! I do love a happy ending*.
*stoppit
mikethep says
Excellent! The Afterword hive mind strikes again.*
*Some more than others. 😉
Tiggerlion says
Marvellous!
H.P. Saucecraft says
… and here’s Steve, and Dad (whose layered shirt look will be taking the fashion world by storm), basking in the glow of a new friendship.
http://i.imgur.com/7yK6zbO.jpg
Tiggerlion says
The cardi is a great colour. For Autumn.
H.P. Saucecraft says
That cardi, Tig, is a very special “garment” (garment is a dadword). I found it on the market here. It’s like a fine wool cardi with a shirtfront and collar sewn in! Imagine! The comfort of a cardi coupled with the timeless elegance of a crisp cotton shirt! It’s a go-anywhere garment that says “I relax with style”!
Tiggerlion says
That explains why he needs at least another two shirts underneath. Fine wool is devilishly itchy on liver spots and thread veins.
mikethep says
Well, there’s no doubt you’re his son…
H.P. Saucecraft says
Whose son?
mikethep says
Your dad’s…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Have you checked if there have been any changes to your Dad’s will recently?
Seriously, that’s great news!
H.P. Saucecraft says
He’s left his museum-grade heritage collection of hearing aid parts and an entire drawerful of Mystery Cables to you, Lodes, at my request.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
It’s not me you should be worried about, that Steve guy looks far too friendly for my liking…
H.P. Saucecraft says
Oh, he’s under the slabs now. Dad may look like a nice little old man …
Junior Wells says
More importantly, what is the latest gossip from down at the clinic ?
H.P. Saucecraft says
Well. You remember that locum who didn’t like to shake hands? He’s gone, not missed much apparently. Never looked you in the eye. Nothing like Doc Blay, now there was a real family GP. Long gone now of course. Dead probably. The trouble is with these young men, many of them Asiaticals, very nice people, is they have no bedside manner. They look more at their computer than they do you. I go in for a repeat prescription and they’re going through the papers or whatnot, the forms, and they say have you tried such-and-such and I’m saying I’ve been on these pills for nine years now and they suit me very well and I get this little superior laugh and they say well, medicine has changed a lot in nine years, so I say, yes but I haven’t I just want my repeat prescription and I’m sure they’re trying to flog some new drug because they’ve got a deal with the suppliers and I’m having none of it. So anyway – oops – there’s the door. Probably the man about the gutters.
Junior Wells says
Never looks you in the eye you say ? Expect he has got a weak handshake too, if he even bothers to offer one .. hrrrmph