6 Things That Compromise the Safety and Security of Office Laptops

Featured article by Roger Dutta, Technology Blogger

Most of us consider ourselves IT experts as we slap, scan, and format our personal laptops without much thought. However, when working on an office laptop, it’s best to take a few steps back.

Work laptops usually have complicated network settings and they come preinstalled with authorized applications that make it an effective platform for work. You also need to keep in mind that corporate laptops and computers are under the vigilant care of salaried IT specialists. They are your go-to guys for any technical problems irrespective of the fact you can fix it or not.

Companies routinely hold their employees responsible for any hardware damage caused by mishandling or improper care. To avoid angry emails from the IT guys at your office, following are 6 things that compromise the safety and security of office laptops that you should avoid.

Accessing Public Wi-Fi: With people working on the go, it’s often hard to resist the temptation of a cafe or a lounge that offers free Wi-Fi.  These free public Wi-Fi networks are usually available in hotels, airports, cafes, restaurants, malls. These public networks can allow hackers to gain a backdoor entry to your system. This is why it’s never a good idea to work on sensitive files or send confidential emails when on public networks. Make sure your laptop does not automatically connect to any public network.

Allowing Anyone to Repair or Remotely Access Your Laptop: This one’s a no-brainer but something that definitely needs to be mentioned. Imagine a scenario. You have to send a very important report and before you can finish your laptop crashes. Fortunately for you, your cousin knows a bit about repairing laptops and you decide to leave the machine in his capable hands. He quickly changes certain settings and installs diagnostic tools to solve the issue. Next thing you know your laptop shuts down for good. Even if your cousin manages to fix the problem, you can land up in serious trouble for allowing him to repair an office computer. Follow our advice, always call up the IT guys when things go wrong with your work laptop.

Playing Resource-Draining Games or Installing Emulators: Unless you are a PC video game tester (kudos for landing that job) or you are supposed to play games for work, this is a habit that needs to be broken immediately. The reason is simple. Most office laptops have limited hardware capabilities to play modern games. While some laptops do meet the minimum hardware requirements to play certain games, they do not have the superior cooling technologies of a proper gaming laptop. This can lead to overheating, system slowdowns, and even hard disk crashes.  Playing PC and console games should always be done on personal devices.

Keeping the Laptop on a Bed, Sofa or Any Plush Surface: This is a tip that holds true for both personal and office laptops. When kept on soft surfaces like blankets, beds, carpets, the air vents, which are usually located at the bottom gets blocked. Without proper airflow, laptops can overheat. This means it can shut down without warning when the internal temperature goes beyond a certain point. These shutdowns are a failsafe method to keep the internal hardware safe from overheating. While they protect the hardware, they can cause you to lose unsaved data.

Installing Maintenance Tools and Antivirus Applications: Companies buy diagnostic tools and antivirus software programs in bulk. They usually have annual licenses that get renewed by the IT department. The reason why installing a maintenance tool or antivirus is a bad idea is because they can interfere with existing applications trying to achieve the same goal. For example, if you install an antivirus, it can run background scans which can conflict with the scans performed by the security suite your company purchased. Also, a lot of malwares and ransomwares are guised as antivirus applications and unknowingly installing them can cause some serious damage.

Visiting Risky Websites: Contrary to popular belief, sites with pornographic content are not particularly as risky as some mainstream websites when it comes to viruses and malwares. That doesn’t mean we recommend opening adult websites on your office laptop. Sites that are riskier are ones that ask you to download “free” software. A lot of fake antivirus websites rely on your gullibility to infect your computer with worms, trojans, and viruses. Be wary of sites that redirect you to a different URL.

Author Bio

A jack of all trades and a master of some, Roger Dutta is blogger with a flair for anything that involves technology. Being a former junior network specialist, he certainly knows his way around the computer. It wasn’t until a few years ago that he discovered his passion for writing blogs and decided to do the obvious. Now, he loves to write beginner-level posts to educate everyone about the fundamentals of technology.