COVID-19 Lockdown: Working from home? Avoid making these 7 mistakes online
Coronavirus pandemic has led people to follow the work from home culture. Here are 7 mistakes you should avoid making while working online at home.
Amid Coronavirus being declared a pandemic, most companies have issued work from home to their employees. As this culture is fairly new in India, people are making dozens of mistakes while adapting it. These mistakes range anywhere from not using a safe internet connection to keeping laptops unlocked even with children around. Here are 7 mistakes you should avoid while working from home
Using a weak/public Wi-Fi network
Using public Wi-Fi while doing official work can be dangerous as your laptop gets more vulnerable to hacks or ransomware attacks. Also, weak password on a Wi-Fi network can result in your hacker neighbour getting into your laptop and grabbing essential information related to your work. In order to avoid this, either stick to a wired ethernet connection or put a strong password on your home Wi-Fi connection. A strong password must include a small letter, a capital letter, a number, a symbol and should contain at least 8 characters.
Leaving PC/Laptop unlocked
Many people have this habit of leaving their desktops or laptops unlocked as they head towards the kitchen to drink water. While people think these 2 minutes won't do any harm, a child or a mischievous cousin can spoil all the work you did so far. It takes less than 10 seconds to lock a computer. You can even make use of shortcut keys to make this process quicker. On a Windows PC, simply press the Window Key and the letter 'L' together (Window key + L). Mac users can press Command+Control+Q to lock.
Sharing pictures of work desk
With utter excitement, a lot of people tend to send pictures of their work desk showcasing their setup. While it can make you look cool among your colleagues, your boss would definitely have a problem if you leave a confidential file open on your PC by mistake. So, you should avoid sharing any pictures of your work desk. However, if you are really pumped to show the setup, make sure your computer is locked and you do not have any confidential files lying on the table. Thoroughly scan the picture before sending it across.
Sharing the same laptop, tablet or phones
In this pandemic, everyone is sitting at home either working or attending online classes. So, if your children or wife also require a laptop for this, prefer not sharing the one you work on. However, if you are out of options, you should create a separate profile on your Windows or Mac to avoid any confusion. Similarly, on a smartphone or a tablet, you can either install extra profiles or just enable app lock on apps that you use for work.
Mixing of personal and professional files
Sharing a personal file with the colleagues or sending a conditional file to a friend can bring a very dangerous result. In order to avoid making such mistakes, maintain separate folders for personal and professional files.
Using the same browser
Browser cache can not only alter the advertisements you see but it can also bring other changes. It is recommended to either use separate browsers for work and social media or create different profiles on the same browser. Google Chrome supports multiple users and the users do not exchange browser history, cache and other data.
Not using a VPN
VPN or Virtual Private Network can make things really safe and secure. While these services require a small fee, there are a couple of free ones also available on the internet. It is worth noting that this will bring a hit on the bandwidth but that is a price worth paying for an extra layer of security when your work involves exchanging a ton of confidential files.
In case you are a student or just finding something to do on weekends while you live the quarantine life, check out how you can access Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Zee5 and other apps for free.