Hi, my dad has dementia and lives 3000 miles away. These screenshare apps sometimes don’t work, freeze up, or get disabled inadvertently. I’m looking for a way to be able to have my dad download an applescript or some file he opens where I could quickly have a system log emailed to me or sent via messages or automate the reinstallation of some software like Zoom or something. I have never really done much with Applescript but seems like it could be useful in this situation. Wondering if anyone might know of a repository of useful examples or has some ideas for me?
If you want to give an operating environment to people who are not good at operating a computer or can hardly do it, think of something like Switch Control (a floating palette that executes Scripts) or Stream Deck (which executes AppleScript from an action) that comes standard with macOS.
For these Script updates, connect with TeamViewer and use file transfer.
However, due to the cognitive decline of the parents, most of the operations were performed in TeamViewer. Good luck to you.
My Mom had Alzheimer’s and I often had to remotely control her computer to fix things. The screen control utility I used required her IP address, which was always changing. Walking her through just going to Google and searching for “my IP” and reading it to me became increasingly difficult.
She used Apple Mail for her email. I set up a rule in Apple Mail that scanned every new message, and if the text contained a long random string, then it would trigger the event to run an Applescript that got her IP address and emailed it to me, then deleted the original email containing the string, and the email sent from her with the IP address, so those couldn’t confuse her.
Although the messages to her - just so she wouldn’t get confused if she saw one before it was deleted - I’d send some innocuous message text, and then there’d be my signature, and I’d put the long code at the bottom of the signature, so she’d never notice it or wonder about it anyway.