[mairving]

After spending a couple of years as a trainer, I found that the single biggest problem that older people had was fear. They were so afraid that they would break something and so were afraid to use the computer. Try first to get rid of some of these fears. Tell them that it is just a tool and not to be afraid to try new things.

You will also find that they will take the hardest route seemingly possible. My mother-in-law said she kept sending us email that was always returned. When I was out visiting her, I looked in her address book to see if she had the address wrong. Well guess what. Her address book was written on a piece of paper. She didn't know that you could have one in your email program. She was also using Netscape because one of her friends used it. I set up an address book for her and showed her how to add new addresses and set up IE for her to use. You should do all the setup and then show her how to send email. Bookmark her some sites and let her go.