We live in unprecedented times. This year has forced millions of professionals to uproot their work lives from the offices to the comfort of their homes. For many people, this is a daunting task. After all, our minds are conditioned to work in specific environments. Our homes are designed to be a haven for rest and not necessarily a place of productivity and work.
Thankfully, modern technology has made it easier for professionals to embrace remote work and make a work-from-home setup safer and more convenient. Here are some tech hacks you should try.
Use Top Tech Tools and Find Their Unseen Tricks
For the past decade, video chat applications like Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, and Skype have connected individuals separated by distance. But the new normal has allowed their use to gain even more prominence. These apps come with hidden tricks that allow users to make the best use of their functions.
If your house is not in its cleanest or most ideal state, one trick you can use is the background option. This feature allows users to upload images and use them as virtual backgrounds during online meetings.
These video chat services also come with a mute function, which significantly reduces background noise for the whole group. A rule of thumb is to always stay on mute when it’s not your turn to talk. This way, you give the main speaker a more conducive environment to lead the conference.
Another system that makes work from home possible and more convenient are cloud services and other applications. Thanks to resources like a managed VPS hosting service, it is now possible for workers to access their companies’ resources and files all in one place, with one click of a button. A good VPS hosting service allows for better data protection, stronger security, reliable tech support, and many other benefits.
Stay Secure and Safe
Scammers, hackers, and other cyber terrorists are always on the lookout to take advantage of internet users, especially now that almost everyone and everything is online. They will always find ways to get users to click on phishing links or download malicious attachments. Now more than ever, we need to be more vigilant in ensuring our online safety and security.
Always make sure your home network is protected with a strong password, and that your computer and phone have the latest security updates. Make a habit of checking the sender’s e-mail address before clicking anything. If a website seems suspicious, don’t click on any of its links. Trust your device when it warns you of dubious activity. Use multi-factor authentication for all your accounts—it ensures that no one apart from you can access your online banking, files, and social media accounts.
We also need to guard ourselves against fake news. When coming across some fishy headlines, use fact-checking websites to confirm their accuracy. As Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is power.” But in the age of misinformation, wrong knowledge can lead to terrible decisions that may cause harm not just to ourselves but to others as well.
Organize Your Browser and Desktop
Our devices are like our homes—just as we want our houses organized and spotless, we also want our computers and phones clean and free from harmful viruses. Just like the state of our home affects our mental health, the condition of our devices also influences our productivity and the way we work. In the same way that we want an uncluttered home life, we also want a clean and tidy online and work life.
As minimalism advocate, Marie Kondo once said, “As you put your house in order and decrease your possessions, you’ll see what your true values are, what is really important to you in your life.” The same is true for our devices.
Uninstall apps and services you have not used in months, and stick to the essential ones—like chat and office apps. Organize your files and folders by putting everything in its place and deleting duplicate documents. And finally, back up your drive in cloud storage, as it is always better safe than sorry.
Even before the pandemic, lots of companies and organizations have already shifted to remote work, as modern technology has made it possible. Experts warn that COVID-19 may last until the whole of next year, which means this will be our normal for a little while longer. While we’re in this situation, we might as well make use of all the tools available to us to ensure a much easier and safer work-from-home setup.
