8 Things You Should NEVER Do On Your Work Computer

Have you ever seen computer craziness at work?

I have.

In the course of being an I.T. consultant, I see people doing CRAZY things on their work computer.

Very crazy things.

Your work computer is not your home computer, and treating it as such jeopardizes your reputation and employment.

I’ve seen people lose their jobs, because of inappropriate computer activity.

I understand.  You’re working long hours and need to take care of a few things, but generally it would be wiser to wait until you are in the privacy of your own home.

Here are seven things you should never do on your work computer.

8. Watch Porn

You knew this would make the list, so let’s just get it out of the way.  Believe it or not, a high percentage of porn viewing occurs at work.

File this one under “Stuff You Know You Shouldn’t Be Doing, But You Do It Anyway”.

One time I saw an employee at a client’s office who unabashedly had a ring of porn site links…complete with very graphic icons…circling the picture of his wife's face on his work computer’s desktop.

Seriously.

If your boss finds you are watching provocative videos while you are being paid to work, filing for Unemployment is pretty much a foregone conclusion.  Why take the chance?

7. Do Your Banking

Would you like your boss and possibly others to see how much you have socked away?

You have no rights to privacy on your work computer.  None.  Everything you do on your work computer can be secretly observed and recorded by your employer.

They wouldn’t do that here.

Uh, yes, they would.

If you need to perform online banking, your smartphone is the smarter option.

6. Have Friends Remotely Access Your Work Computer

Now that remote access software is easily accessible, you have the ability to have virtually anyone you know access your computer from outside the office.

You wouldn’t have your friend walk into the office and sit down at your computer without first checking with your boss.  Beware of doing the same thing virtually.

5. Store Personal Data, Particularly Sensitive Personal Data, Such As Documents, Pictures, Etc.

I knew a company that suddenly went out of business.   A few people voiced concerns about what would happen to their personal data (ex. tax returns) on their work computers.

When the company closed down, securely erasing personal data from the work computers wasn’t exactly a priority for management.

Nobody knows what happened to the computers or the personal data that was on them.

Something else to consider is if you’re ever let go from a company, standard policy is to have you leave immediately.  You probably won’t have the time to remove those files that should have never been on your work computer in the first place.
 

4. Catch Up On Your Personal Social Media

Once I saw a woman with multiple chat windows and every conceivable social media site open on her computer.  All of her online activity was with friends and had nothing to do with work.

I jokingly asked, “Busy day?”

She sighed from exhaustion and nodded her head.

She didn’t get the joke. 

Work was interfering with catching up with her friends.

 
3. Download illegal applications/movies/music

Some offices have super fast Internet connections, so it seems to make sense to download large files to your USB drive while at work.  However, if you're downloading anything that is illegal, you may not only lose your job, but your company may report you to the authorities.  Plus, many of the websites that offer free access to illegal applications, movies and music have viruses embedded in their websites, so you could be inadvertently launching a virus that takes down your company's network.

2. Look For Another Job

I worked with a small company that decided to secretly monitor the computer activity of their employees.  One employee lost her job, because she was busted for looking for another job while she was on the clock.  

The crazy part…SHE was furious.

1. Perform Work For Another Company While At Work

Thanks to technology, more and more people can remotely perform a second job from home.  Some are seeing this as an opportunity to work from work, thereby having two simultaneous sources of income.

Bad idea.

All in all, everything you do on your work computer can be easily and legally recorded by your employer.  Even if your coworkers are doing some craziness on their work computers, you could be the one that is made an example of.

Be careful.

Interested in professional I.T. support for your office?

Visit avenue X group at www.aXg.com.