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Easiest distro for elderly parent
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
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Define what you mean by "locked down". If you don't give your user superuser privileges, every distro is locked down because the user can only ever write to their own /home
I'd strongly recommend Mint:
Mint was going to be my suggestion too! It's a great distro for a lot of users. Easy to navigate and hard(ish) to break.
+1, my parents are using Mint and they are only browsing the web. They have not complained anything after almost a year. In my case, I didn't dare to set up automatic updates so I'm updating the computer when I visit them.
Same here, parents. Feel free to turn on automatic updates. It's never broken anything, and vulnerabilities do need patching.
Seconded. Absolutely what I'd install in this kind of situation. I have an old machine set up for my wife with Mint. She only uses it to check her bank account, basically. So far zero issues.
I can also recommend Linux Mint. It's a great general purpose option for both beginners and experienced users.
While I support the general advice, "very Windows-esque UI" is not a benefit for less tech-literate people. It's the former Windows-users that conditioned themselves to expect Windows UI with all it's shortcomings. The average elderly relative who doesn't use anything but ~3 pre-installed programs does not care normally and can get much eaiser and more intutive UIs than those close to Windows.
Oh, you'd be surprised how the average elderly relative responds to the absence of a "start menu button" and total lack of desktop items on vanilla GNOME...