I have an old spare laptop I'm thinking of giving to my dad. I'm hpeing t be able to pay for him come to Vietnam for his 80th bext year. So I can set it up, test it and run through with it with him when he is here. He's a little computer literature thanks to his Tablet.
 
He desn't have wifi, but I tethered my phone when I was there last week. I don't think skype is much of an option, but I was hoping for something where I can see his screen from mine and control his mouse and keyboard from mine. 
 
What are the cool and cheap options? Both are windows 10
 

You should be able to just set up remote desktop using Win10. I have not used remote desktop in years, but connection speed will affect performance because it is trying to stream images of the desktop. Lower resolution while using remote desktop should help alleviate this (not sure of connection speed on both ends of your situation).

Thanks, I did not know that.
Fortunately, It's not a HD screen.
Unfortunate it doesn't work on Home addition. (just found out)
 
 
Anyone recommend a 3rd party

Remote desktop still works on the Home edition, it's just limited to one direction and one connection. As long as you're on Pro, you'll be able to connect to him.
 
As for third-party solutions, I use a product called TeamViewer. It's free to use non-commercially, but don't make too many connections in a short period or they'll accuse you of commercial use and demand (a lot of) money.

+1 for TeamViewer

bitflipper
As for third-party solutions, I use a product called TeamViewer. It's free to use non-commercially, but don't make too many connections in a short period or they'll accuse you of commercial use and demand (a lot of) money.

I checked out the TeamViewer web site - pretty light on details about what versions of Windows it works with.  Me: Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit.  My mother: Win 7, probably 32-bit, and beyond that, whatever came installed by Dell.  Do you think TeamViewer will work for my situation?

I'll check out Team Viewer, as all my machines are Home

Jim Roseberry
+1 for TeamViewer

Yup, just remember to set a firm password just in case it goes down and comes back up. That way Dad doesn't have to remember too much (except how to start it back up).

Whatever software you use, if you’ll need to use it over a network or the internet don’t forget to create the necessary holes in Windows and router firewalls to allow the connection.

And set a very strong password on anything accessible from the internet.