Patient Computer Help for Seniors

Menus move, updates change things overnight, and nobody explains why. Then help arrives, talks fast, takes the mouse from your hand and leaves. The problem is the technology and the help, not you.

BRATechSystems is a local business based in Lakewood Ranch, and the visit comes to your house, so nothing gets unplugged and driven anywhere. You are not routed through a call centre, and you are not starting your story over each time.

How We Work

You will not be rushed. If a visit runs long because you want to understand something, that is fine. Nobody takes over the keyboard without asking. If you would rather drive while someone talks you through it, that is how it is done. An explanation comes once, then again if you want it. Before the visit ends, it gets written down.

What We Help With

Something new, and moving everything across

A new computer, tablet or phone is easy to buy and awkward to start. Your files, photos, email, contacts and printer move across, and it gets set up the way you use it.

Screens you can read, photos you can find

Text can be made larger, contrast raised, the pointer easier to spot. Squinting is a setting, not something to live with. Photos can come off your phone too, backed up and sorted so you can find them.

Video calls, printers and passwords

Video calls get set up to work the same way every time. Printers get talking to the computer again. A password system too complicated to use is not security, so you end up with one you will stick with: a password manager, a written book, or both.

Sitting with you while you learn

Sometimes nothing is broken. You want to learn something, with someone patient beside you. That is a good reason to call.

Things People Call About

• The grandchildren’s photos will not come off my phone.
• The new laptop is still in its box. I do not want to lose the old one.
• The print is too small and I lean in to read it.
• I want to do video calls without my son talking me through it.
• My passwords are on four bits of paper. I have lost two.

Scams, and Why Being Caught Says Nothing About You

These scripts are written by professionals who test them on thousands of people and keep what works. They are built to fool careful, intelligent adults. Being caught by one says nothing about anyone’s intelligence.

A pop-up fills the screen saying the computer is infected, showing a phone number and the Microsoft name. Microsoft does not do that. Neither does Apple. Then the calls: your bank, Amazon about a charge you did not make, a young voice claiming to be a grandchild in trouble who needs money now, quietly. Urgency and secrecy are the tell. Real institutions survive a call back on a number you looked up.

Two things appear again and again: a request to install something so they can control your screen, and a request to pay in gift cards. No bank or agency asks for either. If you think you let someone in, or are unsure what you clicked, the machine can be checked over and locked down. More on that in removing viruses and scam pop-ups at your home. No lecture attached.

For Adult Children Living Out of State

If your parent is here and you are not, you can arrange all of this from wherever you are, and pay for it yourself. It can be a standing arrangement rather than a one-off, with someone coming out periodically to check things over. Your parent deals with one familiar local business instead of a different company each time. Afterwards you get a plain account of what was found and done.

Where We Come Out To

Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Palmetto and Parrish. Same-day and next-day appointments are often available, depending on the schedule. If the machine itself is the problem, our in-home computer repair work covers it.

Common Questions

Can I arrange and pay for this for my parent who lives there?

Yes, and it is a common arrangement. Get in touch, explain the situation, and book the visit on your parent’s behalf from any state. Payment can come from you rather than from them. Afterwards you get a plain account of what was found and done.

Do I have to bring the computer somewhere?

No. The visit comes to the house, so nothing gets unplugged, carried to a car or left at a counter. The computer stays connected to your own desk, printer and Wi-Fi, which is often where the real problem lives. Anything demonstrated is on your own equipment.

Will my parent be dealing with a different stranger every visit?

No. BRATechSystems is a local business based in Lakewood Ranch, not a national chain or a call centre with a rotating list of technicians. What was done on a previous visit is on record, so nobody has to explain the setup or the history from the beginning again.

What if I have to ask you the same thing twice?

Then ask. Repetition is how anyone learns something that is not intuitive, and most of this is not intuitive. Better to explain a thing three times and have it stick than leave you nodding politely and stuck again on Tuesday. The steps get written down too.

BRATechSystems carries $1,000,000 general liability and $1,000,000 technology errors and omissions insurance through The Hartford. A certificate of insurance is available on request.