My parents are in their late 70s, rely on their computer for many essentials, and aren't technical. Their beloved old Toshiba became unusable after it tricked them into updating to Windows 10, so, they bought a new, reasonable-seeming Dell all-in-one for 600 bucks. Apparently it arrived broken, and they returned it and got another. Same result, so I decided to take a look.<p>(They don't see why a computer should cost more than 600 bucks with taxes and shipping, and they want Windows (7), which they think of as "how a computer should be." Before anyone suggests an iPad, they'll consider it when it's 24", easy on the eyes, and sits on the computer desk in the computer corner.)<p>Anyway, out of the box it takes 10 minutes to get to the desktop and then pegs the disk. I figure it's updating itself and give it a good half day to do as it pleases. Now it's updated and not much better. I remove all the crapware, disable all the telemetry junk, generally remove everything I can. It's better, but still takes ages to get to usable and occasionally pegs the disk with various Windows processes. Because it does so sporadically, the performance drops confuse the hell out of my parents, who think THEY are doing something wrong.<p>I figure: Windows 10 Home has its own agenda and always will. That means it will never perform well without an SSD, and my parents will never have an SSD at their price-point. So, what to do? Invest a day to see if I can coerce Windows into behaving? I haven't used it in a long time, and I'm not sure I'll succeed. Convince them to switch to better hardware or an iMac? The cost, new UX and their stubbornness are a problem. Or wipe Windows and install the Pro edition? I'm sure it'll cost me and not sure it'll be better behaved.<p>Or, install Linux (probably Mint), hope they like it and it likes their cheapie computer, and hope for the best. Seems like the least-bad option, but giving Linux to an elderly person also feels somehow wrong.