I need to start with an update on my last article. Just hours after the newsletter it's published in went to print, LastPass sent me an email telling me that the free version of their password manager would no longer work across multiple platforms. That left me having to decide whether to pay for the premium version or to find a new password manager.

​This brings me to a topic I've been planning to write about for a while … 

​One of the things I usually love about technology is that it's constantly innovating, looking for new or better ways of doing things. This video is an eye-opening reminder of just how far Windows has come since 1985. 

But not all the changes are for the better – and even the good ones can take some adjusting to. A client recently asked me ‘How do you find out about these things?’ Another told me that even when she Googles for solutions, she doesn't know which information to trust. So let me share with you some of the websites that may help.

You can also use these sites, and others such as The Verge, Digital Trends, Windows Latest and even Twitter, to get ahead of changes by following their tech news. 70 Tech Websites to Follow in 2021 is a great list of sites that you can read to keep yourself updated on the tech industry.

For the record, having done my research on a replacement for LastPass, I've switched to Bitwarden. While its ‘Free forever’ personal plan lacks style, it has all the functionality I need. I even find its mobile app easier to use than LastPass's.

Keep on learning!!!

​I get my love of technology from my Dad, a real technophile who, until Alzheimer’s made it difficult, was never happier than when trying out a new gadget or experimenting with a new app. My Mum, on the other hand, is discombobulated by it all. She's fine doing familiar tasks on her laptop but gets thrown when something different happens. She's the first to admit she needs a lot of handholding – and she isn't alone in that.

When the Covid-19 lockdown happened and she knew I wouldn't be able to pop over and help with her list of problems, she panicked! Fortunately, the technology that scares her also came to her rescue, in the form of Quick Assist.
​
Quick Assist allows you to help someone less confident by giving you remote access to their computer. Its big advantage over better known alternatives such as TeamViewer is that it's built into Windows so there's nothing to install - although we still struggled a bit getting Mum to find the app on her computer. There are three ways to bring it up, and I think we tried all of them before we got it going:

1. Find it in the Windows Accessories folder in the Start menu;
2. Click on the Start menu, type Quick Assist and it shows in the search results;
3. Hold the Windows key and tap R; in the dialog box that comes up type quickassist and click OK.

​But eventually we got it running on both our laptops and could set up the connection.