Every company is different with regards to the configuration of security and systems. For many IT guys, they tend to know what is possible within the work environment and what is not possible. For the average employee, however, they may not know that many things related to their e-mail or file storage are possible from within their work environment.
Here is a list of 7 secretes that the IT guys in your company may not be telling you.
1. You can check your personal email on your work BlackBerry
Your company It deparment often use a lot of security blocks in order to keep viruses out of your company files. Personal email doesn’t come through on the BlackBerry through the company’s firewall. If you access your personal email on your BlackBerry, you may be pulling in viruses through your email.
The company wants to be cautious, but, for the most part, big email providers such as Gmail or yahoo already include several virus protection weeders, so it’s probably a safe bet that you can check your personal email without doing too much damage.
Go to the Settings in your personal email account. Enable POP (Post Office Protocol). Log in to the Black Berry service provider site. Click profile and then ‘other email accounts.’ Click ‘add account’ and enter your personal email account. This will ensure that your personal email comes up with your work email.
2. You can check your work email from home even if you don’t have a BlackBerry
Even if your job doesn’t buy you’re a work BlackBerry, there’s a way to have your work email forwarded to your personal email account. This way, you can check your work email from your smartphone. In your email account, right click on any email. Click ‘create rule’ and have your email forwarded to another address. Have your phone service provider then set up your phone to display your personal email as it comes up. You can also check out blogs on working remotely for other IT tricks for working from home.
3. You can keep your emails private
If you have a web-based email account, your company probably has full access to your email and even IM archives. If you want more privacy, you can encrypt the emails so that only the receiver and sender can see them. Click on ‘tools’ and choose ‘options, and then ‘security.’ Here you’ll enter a password. No one will be able to read the emails without knowing this password. For more general email providers, put an ‘s’ at the end of “http” to send you into the secure version of the site. Not all email providers have this option, but Gmail, for one, does.
4. You can store work files online
If you don’t want to use a portable device to carry around work files, consider using an online storage service from a company such as Box.net. Most of these sites offer some free storage and charge a little more for extra storage if you need it. If you’re dealing with super secret files, though, this is not the best idea, since these sites are always more prone to hacking than the company’s protected computers.
5. You can clear your tracks on your work laptop
If you don’t want your employer to see your at-home Internet searches on the company laptop, consider erasing your tracks. Some companies set up personal laptops to enable company searches as a right, but you can bypass this encryption by choosing ‘tools’ and ‘delete browsing history.’ You can delete the whole history or just choose a few things to delete.
6. You can set up your own software
Some companies insist that employees have the IT guys set up software on your computer and have blocks set up to keep you from doing it yourself. If you don’t have a Masters in Information Technology, you may need to find the web version rather than trying to download the software yourself. Often, you can find a web-based version of the software that will allow you to use the software on your work computer through the web. This is true for IM software and for music players and video games. Sometimes the web-based version doesn’t have as many features, but the basics are usable.
7. You can send very large files
Many companies control the size of the files you can send from your company limit. They do this in order to keep the servers from getting gummed up and moving too slowly. To send large files, try a file-sharing service such as YouSendIt Inc. These services are free, but do be careful which one you choose as less reputable sites run the risk of hacking.
10 Comments
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People should be more responsible enough in handling emails. You don’t want to mix personal emails or personal account in your work area. Things might get messy somewhere, so better be safe than be sorry, cause your company might be pointing the blame on you if something happens due to your negligence.
The fact that you cited blackberry twice makes this article a bunch of crap. The rest of it is such general knowledge that it applies to anything that people do on a regular basis. You make it seem like computers operate differently when you’re at work then when you’re at home. While security settings can be enabled at a corporate level, there’s nothing that would stop you from using your work computer in the same way you use the one at home. Stop pushing fluff.
thanks for the tips i will definitely keep this in mind
Who uses Blackberry nowadays?
Now here is the reason why IT guys are so smart.I guess these tricks if work can increase the task of IT guys to protect the employees from accessing the e-mails if they find out about it.Very interesting piece of information and yes they are secrets for sure.
This is such a great list. I especially like the the one about being able to check my work email from home. Thanks.
Whoah! I didn’t know I can make all of these things in the office. Now, you’ve nailed them all here! I shall try to encrypt my emails so our IT guys can’t read them!
-Andrea
I set my cell phone to be able to receive personal as well as business emails. It is very useful to be automatically updated whenever an email arrives. It saves me so much time thanks to this tiny IT trick as I don’t need to check for new emails manually. Thanks for sharing these tricks by the way!