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Computing What do I need to work from home due to coronavirus? - MW


People will need their own customized solution, but there are two things to think about. First, will you work from home for two weeks or four months or maybe forever? I share the view that Covid-19 can cause permanent changes to home work.

Second, who is paying for homework equipment and services: you or your employer?

If you only work from home for a short period of time, perhaps you can get rid of not buying new devices or signing up for remote service. If you're on a long trip, try a combination or, best of all, beat the equipment you normally use in the office. For example, if you can buy a ThinkPad T490s (£ 1,213,71), get as close to the specification as possible.

If you are paying for your own kits, you may want to implement an economical method. But if the company insists that you work from home, ask for an ergonomic device. This usually costs more, but is valid in the long run.

If your company has an IT department, then it should provide or advise you on which equipment and software to use. This may also include a VPN and two-factor authentication system, such as YubiKey.

One of the jobs of the IT department is to make choices for tens or even tens of thousands of employees. You may not like their choice - I don't usually support - but letting people choose their own collaborative software, messaging apps or video conferencing systems don't work. Of course, this does not prevent people from setting up unofficial groups on WhatsApp or Facebook.

The good news is that you can be more productive when you don't spend hours traveling or in meetings, having a long lunch or catching up with the latest rumors.

The bad news is that you have to set up and adhere to office routines without outside pressure to be on time, have regular meals and keep a good sleep schedule. Every company has early birds and night owls, so their working hours are likely to diverge. However, you must overlap during a set number of working hours when everyone is always present.

Self-discipline is the reason why many tips on working from home include things like working clothes, although you can work so well in your gown. But if you talk to colleagues or customers through video links, you must keep appearing. You will be appreciated.

Temporary office


If you only work from home for a short time, you have gained a lot of additional equipment needs. If you have your own laptop, you'll only need an external USB keyboard and mouse, and you probably already have those. You can then think of a separate monitor, an external hard drive for backup purposes and a powered four-port USB hub or a docking station to connect them all together.

Laptops have poor ergonomics, so you shouldn't use them during extended work hours. You can solve this problem by making your laptop work like a desktop computer, by placing it on a commercial riser or pile of books and plugging it into an external keyboard and mouse. . Your eyebrows must be close to the top of the screen, so you can work without slipping.

Buy a docking station if you can. If you plug your laptop and all your peripherals into an outlet, you only need to unplug a single cable from the laptop to take it elsewhere. That makes it easy to change scenes by working in another room or in the garden.

A major problem when working on laptops is that most of the tables are domestic and many are too high. Your arms should be placed slightly downwards when you are typing, not upwards. You can solve this problem by purchasing an accessory keyboard tray, where the keyboard is located under an adjustable table or chair, where the seat height is the main size. However, both enter the office territory.

On the other hand, the supreme law for working from home is that you will not lose your job. Press Ctrl-S (to save) a reflection action. Save files to your local hard drive and to online drives (OneDrive is integrated into Windows 10) and back them up to an external hard drive or USB drive. Even if you are saving your work on a corporate server or in an online office suite - such as Microsoft, Google or Zoho - you may need a local copy if your comms link broken.

Permanent office


The best way to work from home is to set up an appropriate office in a spare bedroom, garbage room, attic, greenhouse, garden shed or David Cameron-style hut. If you have a family, your home office should have a door with a Keeping out or perhaps a sign on the air. So many people are now creating podcasts, videoconferencing, or appearing on live broadcast from home offices where studio style on overhead signs - even neon lights - is becoming a things. It helps avoid spouses / partners and / or children from wandering around, for a comedic effect.

Having dedicated office space means you can have a suitable desk, an adjustable office chair, one or more large screens and a desktop that will provide more power. a laptop computer with a lower cost. You might even want to buy a standing table or a desk riser, such as Yo Yo Desk 90 (UK) or Varidesk Pro Plus 36. Sit-Stand.com has these and many other models. .

For more advice, see my recent answer: How do I set up a home office?

That answer did not include video conferencing, which would be important for many people being pushed out of the company's nest. Even if it's not needed for meetings, it's useful for quick video chats with colleagues. This promotes friendship, especially if you begin to feel alone when working alone. It's also easy to do, thanks to software like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts, TeamViewer and more.

You will look and sound a lot better if you buy a good webcam with 1080p (Full HD) resolution. In the previous answers, I suggested the Logitech C920 HD Pro webcam with a microphone. It is still a good product for £ 63.99, despite having a newer C920S model for £ 84.99.

If you snatch a snail out of your webcam, at least get a headset with a microphone. Gamers love them so there are all sorts of models available at reasonable prices. You can also use them to listen to music, thus eliminating background noise and traffic noise.

Broadband issue


Broadband should not be an issue because peak usage is in the evening when many people are streaming movies or TV or playing games like Fortnite. Even when everyone started video chatting, there was enough capacity for people working from home during the day. However, you should have an unlimited business broadband service, like me or a mobile backup based on a mobile router like Mifi or a smartphone connection or whatever.

Either way, your plan B should include a replacement device - a smartphone or tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard or a backup laptop - and another way to connect to the office, even if it means using a hotspot when parked outside a local cafe. Arrange all login and connection details and check it before you really need it. Perhaps you've won many things that can do many things without an internet connection.

Top tip
Almost every operating system supports multiple users, so set up a separate work account. Make this account look like your office PC as much as possible, with the same wallpaper and the same icons in many same places. That way, you have won the distraction by whatever game, social media or entertainment you use when you're not at work.

Using a separate account will remove all your personal websites from the browser and the browser tab. Having downloaded PornHub is never a good look, even if you didn't accidentally switch to it.

MW

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