Need to help your relative or neighbour set up internet banking or online shopping? 

Want to teach your grand-daughter how to bake, but don’t have Zoom or video conferencing on your computer – and don’t know where to start?

It’s not too late!

Windows 10 has a nifty help feature that I only learnt about recently from Jonathan Lawrence (Malvern Computers, in Waddington).

It’s a built-in accessory called ‘Quick Assist’. 

So you can phone or email someone to ask them to help you with it, or offer to help someone else, even though we are all in lockdown. (Your computer-savvy grandchild may be ideal…)

IMPORTANT! – nobody has to go to anyone else’s home or touch anyone else’s computer!

It’s done over the internet. So your computer must be connected to the internet, and it must be running Windows 10.  So must the helper’s.

CAUTION – do not accept this remote help unless it’s from someone trustworthy – they need to be both honest AND competent. You are giving them temporary control of your computer. 

The helper logs in to Quick Assist and sends you a code. You log in to Quick Assist and enter the code that your helper sent. And you’re away! Sit back and let your helper do it for you.

What do I mean, ‘log in to Quick Assist’?

See below.  And then give it a try!  (Who knows what else you may discover along the way?)

UPDATE 1 April: Many thanks to Reuben Hunt who messaged to tell me that you can easily access Quick Assist by typing it in the search bar (bottom left of screen) and the app will be displayed. ‘One click and it’s open and ready.’  (Duh. I have a knack of finding the difficult way to do something and missing the simple. Thank you, Reuben!)

So you can ignore the following diagram. I’m leaving it here in case someone wants to investigate the other Windows Accessories. Just type ‘Quick Assist’in the search bar instead.