How to help your parents with their computer remotely, without the long explanation

The problem was never the remote desktop software. It is the fifteen minutes of phone instructions before you can get in — "press the green button", "no, the one at the bottom". This is how to compress those fifteen minutes into a single, one-time setup.

The principle: set it up once, walk straight in afterwards

Almost everybody helping family makes the same mistake: every time help is needed, they start from scratch — open the program, read me the code, read me the password. The password changes on every launch, and reading six digits over the phone to someone who is not comfortable with computers takes longer than you expect.

The right approach is to spend the effort once, then walk straight in every time after that.

The first time — do it together, about five minutes

You still have to talk them through it this once, but only this once. Two routes; pick one:

Route 1 — share an account (recommended for family machines)

Create an account, or use one you already have.
On their machine: download the app, run it, and sign in with that same account.
Done. From now on the machine appears in your machine list and you can get in whenever you want — even with nobody sitting there, with nothing to approve.

This is the shortest path. In exchange, the person at the other end never has to press anything, so make sure they understand and agree to that — see the last section.

Route 2 — set a fixed password on the machine

If you would rather not share an account, the alternative is to give that machine a fixed password instead of the 6-digit one that changes on each launch. You choose it, you remember it, and the owner gets a notification every time someone connects.

A fixed password is fixed for everyone else too. Choose something long — not a birthday or a phone number. If you only help occasionally, route 1 is safer because access is tied to an account rather than to a string anyone who guesses it can use.

Three things to do during that first session

While you are still together — or still on the phone — do these three. They save a lot later:

Pin the app to the taskbar and set it to start with the computer. They will never have to hunt for it again.
Take a screenshot of the part that shows the machine code and send it to them. Next time you can just say "send me one that looks like this".
Test it once, right there. Do not discover a missed step the day something actually breaks.

Every time after that

You open a browser, click that machine in your list, and you are in. No phone call, no reading out codes, no waiting for anyone to press anything.

If you are out of the house, your phone works too — both Android and iPhone can control a computer. Turn the phone sideways and zoom in about 2× and it is usable for most things.

Talk while you work

This matters more than it sounds. When you work in silence, a cursor moving by itself across the screen is a genuinely alarming sight for someone who is not comfortable with computers — plenty of people assume the machine has a virus.

Voice and video calls are built in and work during the session. Turning that on and saying "I'm opening this program now" changes the experience completely. If you want them to learn to do it themselves next time, slow down and narrate each step.

Which machines this works with

Windows PCs — fully. To reach the lock screen and the system's own permission dialogs as well, turn on Lock screen and UAC support from the tray icon; it needs administrator rights once. This is the common case.
Macs — fully, but the first run needs two permissions granted in System Settings. That part is fiddly, so do it together the first time.
Android phones — yes, with Accessibility permission enabled.
iPhone and iPad — cannot be controlled, and that is an Apple restriction that applies to every app. An iPad cannot share its own screen either, so if they use one you are back to talking them through it — have them send a screenshot, or start a video call and point the camera at the device.

Be explicit about privacy

This is the part people skip, and skipping it is where family misunderstandings start.

If you choose route 1, you can enter that machine at any time without anyone approving it. Say so out loud rather than letting them discover it. In practice there are several things worth telling them so they feel comfortable:

Every time you connect, their screen shows a red bar that cannot be dismissed, with a stop button. There is no way to get in unseen.
Pressing that button cuts the session instantly.
They can see the list of who has access to their machine and revoke yours whenever they want.
Session content travels directly between the two machines, end-to-end encrypted, and does not pass through a server that could read it.

If that still feels like too much, switch to route 2: with a fixed password they get a notification on every connection, and they can change the password any time.