Ask Paul: February 26 (Premium)

Happy Friday! This last Ask Paul for February has another great set of reader questions, including a few stumpers, to get the weekend started.
Short Takes
Thanks for all the feedback last week regarding Short Takes. I will be publishing Short Takes on Mondays or Tuesdays going forward, schedule dependent, and starting next week to coincide with Ignite. --Paul
Why does Windows rename my network connections 2?
crunchyfrog asks:

Paul, there's a phenomenon that has plagued Windows going back many years that I still see in Windows 10 and can't understand how or why it happens. When I setup WiFi on Windows at installation, I select my SSID and enter the password. Over time though, I see that my that the SSID develops a numerical number when I hover over the icon on the taskbar, ie: 'Home' shows up as 'Home 2', etc. I've never fully understood what causes this and I don't think I've seen this on MacOS or Linux.

I’ve not experienced this recently, but I’ve absolutely experienced it, and I’m positive it’s not unique to Windows 10: This goes back to at least Windows 7, if not earlier, I think.

Regardless, I don’t know why this happens, sorry.
The need for speed
darkgrayknight asks:

Have you noticed the fast loading of games on Xbox Series X? I'm still amazed at how Ark Evolved and Halo Wars 2 just load the game. Ark Evolved used to take a couple minutes, but now the world is loaded in less than 30 seconds. Halo Wars 2 loads a skirmish game in a few seconds when it used to take more like 30.

Yep. I feel like this is the primary benefit of the consoles, and if you ever get too used to it, just fire up an Xbox One X (or whatever) for comparison purposes.

In a related note, NVMe M2 SSDrives are amazing at making a computer fast. Unfortunately the size of these drives is still relatively low and leave storage space issues for the new Xbox Series X/S. Have you noticed the speed on any recent computers you have reviewed?

I think I’m just used to things in Windows being fast. But the new M1-based Macs are the only computers I’ve used recently where the speed was notably better than before. When you launch apps, they seem to explode off the dock. With previous Macs, it was a lot more leisurely.

Is there anything you think would make a good leap forward in technology? I think quantum networking would drive some real innovation and technological advancement.

Actual pervasive 5G-level connectivity is the big one for me. This would really open up things nicely. I always think about our early home swaps and how horrible the Internet connections often were, and how that has changed for the better in recent years (to the point where most of the homes we’ve swapped with recently had much better connections than we do). Being able to instantly download or access anything from anywhere would be a game-changer.
From LastPass to Microsoft
staganyi asks:

Following up on my previous question about lastpass and moving t...