We’ve all been there. The “emergency” mid-day phone call from your mother, asking you to walk her through the steps (again) to get to her favourite knitting website;

The three-hour sessions spent teaching your parents how to check their e-mail;

And the angry accusations from your grandmother that the computer you got her for Christmas keeps forgetting her password. (No grandma, you keep forgetting to take the caps lock off.)

Up until recently, the only good way to help the elders in our lives cope with the technology in theirs was with a cordless mouse in one hand and a stiff drink in the other. Fortunately, help has arrived.

SoftShell Seniors Software makes common tasks incredibly easy.

“User’s don’t need to know anything about computers,” explains Raul Rupsingh, one of the two London, Ontario computer engineers who designed SoftShell. He and partner, Stephen Beath wanted to create something that was so easy to use that anyone could use it without any special knowledge. All you have to do is be able to read.

Once installed, SoftShell takes over the screen. Instead of seeing the usual (and often confusing) Windows operating system, seniors are presented with the simple SoftShell screen. The program uses large fonts and plain English to offer users just a few choices – answering e-mail, browsing the Internet, organizing photos and playing games – for users to click on.

Your grandmother couldn’t use a mouse if her life depended on it? Not to worry – SoftShell is also available for touch screen or voice activated systems.

Rupsingh and Beath are so confident that seniors will be able to use SoftShell that they’re offering a two-month free trial. If your parents or grandparents love it and can’t imagine living without it at the end of two months, they can keep right on using it for an $8 monthly fee.

For more information, visit the SoftShell website at www.MySoftShell.com