I'm looking for advice on building a child-friendly PC for my little brother. Previously, he managed to ruin our last computer by accidentally downloading viruses, even with Bitdefender installed. My mom got rid of the old PC before I got to see what happened, but we really want to avoid similar issues. I plan to give him a solid lesson on safe computer use before he gets a new setup.
We want him to be able to explore games beyond just Roblox without ending up on sketchy sites. Is there a better antivirus solution than Bitdefender that we could look into? I want something that doesn't overly restrict him or make my mom feel tempted to monitor every move. Also, what are some budget-friendly PC builds he could start with that would allow for upgrades later?
I'm thinking about encouraging him to try games like Minecraft with mods since he loves gaming. Does anyone have suggestions on what other games might be good for him, and how much RAM he'll need for those without running into issues?
3 Answers
The best defense is definitely education. No antivirus can stop him if he knows how to bypass it. Consider setting up a separate user account for him that doesn’t have admin rights so he can't install anything without permission. Also, if you image the system, it's easy to reset if things go wrong. Malwarebytes is a solid tool for catching viruses, and its paid version has excellent real-time protection, though you may not need that for him.
Don't forget about Xbox Game Pass for PC! It has a ton of games he can explore without the risk of running into those sketchy sites. It’s a great way to give him lots of options without overwhelming him.
A Steam Deck could be a good option! It's portable and works like a proper gaming PC, plus it runs on a custom Linux OS, which makes it safer from many viruses aimed at Windows. You can get him a monitor and peripherals for it, and that way he can enjoy a full setup without a ton of issues.
That's a great idea! I already have a Steam Deck, so I could get him a monitor to go with it and make a nice little gaming station.
Exactly! I was hoping my mom was keeping an eye on him, but that's clearly not the case, so I need to set up some regular chats with him to check in.