[AmazingTurtle]

I set up windows 11 on a laptop for my dad so he can read emails and browse the web. Came back 3 months later when he told me he couldn't see the PDF files anymore. Turns out he installed THREE different PDF viewers that he randomly found on google, they installed tons of bloatware/spyware, replaced browser toolbars and searches etc. to a point where I decided to just restore from a recovery point. Told him not to download weird stuff (again) and ask me when he needs help.

At that point I questioned myself: I really should have installed linux for him.

[jermaustin1]

> replaced browser toolbars

This is still a thing? Browsers still have toolbars???

My go to for family is giving them no install rights, and adding a remote desktop app for me to connect to them when they need something to install.

I don't get called very often anymore, and when I do, it's for their work computer or something, to which I say, talk to your IT department, I can't fix that.

[dpe82]

ChromeOS is a really great option for "just want to read emails and browse the web".

[pjerem]

Oh yeah, at least with ChromeOS, Chrome isn’t installing itself like a spyware alongside any other software installer.

[mc32]

Browsers today view and can do limited editing for PDFs. No need for a dedicated reader. One does need a dedicated authoring tool if you need to create PDFs from scratch. Most OSes support print to PDF as well if you only need conversion.