Hi I know this is an old post but I found it yesterday when I lost the key to my upvc window and struggled to find an answer online.
I changed the handle/lock on my window yesterday and here's how I did it.
Go to a hardware shop (I got mine from Wilkinsons for £7) and buy a universal upvc window handle. Take a chunky screw driver and a hammer and belt the driver into the lock and pull on it until it basically snaps off (it's worryingly easy).
The universal handle will have a very long spindle which you will need to cut with a hack saw to the same length as the one you've just removed.
Then simply undo the two screws to take off the remains of your old handle and screw the new handle into place.
The whole job will take no more than 15 mins and most of that is cutting the spindle with the hacksaw which will take two people (one to hold and one to cut, my 16 year old daughter helped me so it doesn't need to be two big men).
Basically any able bodied person can do this job it's very very easy.
Davie
September 2010