Home PCs expose your entire business’s network to risk. At home, your employees don’t have the robust security measures your company machines have. If their hard drive happens to have a malicious file, connecting to your company’s server could spread a virus to every machine linked to it. These policies assist in preventing that scenario.
The PCs your employees use at home have Windows 10 Home installed. They can check by going to Start, clicking the “Settings” gear icon, scrolling down, and clicking “About”.
On your company PC, you may have Windows 10 Pro. Windows 10 Pro includes business-oriented features the Home version doesn’t have. For example, Pro’s “Domain Join + Group Policy” allows your IT staff to manage your company’s data security and monitor threats to their system. They can push security updates and add antivirus software to computers company-wide.
On Windows 10 Home, users have to maintain their cybersecurity themselves. But don’t worry! There are easy ways to boost security at home.
These 3 steps can be done quickly by any employee who requests to work from home on their personal computer.
Windows Updates are crucial to security. Microsoft rolls out frequent updates to fix bugs and vulnerabilities as they discover them. Here are links to update instructions:
Anything older than Windows 8 is no longer supported by Microsoft. The operating system will need to be upgraded to get security updates. Click here for our article outlining your Windows upgrade options.
Once an update downloads, your employee will need to restart their computer to install it. The install could take several minutes so either set aside time or run the update after hours.
A home PC is likely used by family members, too. These users could accidently download files with harmful malware and viruses that could infect your company’s network. We recommend downloading the free Malwarebytes software. It will scan and remove malware from home computers.
Window 10 Home has a feature to create accounts for family members. Your employee, as administrator, will be able to control the apps other users have access to and what they can download. These family users will not be able to download anything without admin approval.
When you decide the apps a user can access, you won’t have to worry about family members tampering with business tools. Plus it keeps them out of databases with sensitive information.
To create family member users, go to Start>Settings>Accounts>Family & Other Users.
Setting up a new user requires an email address for each user. If someone doesn’t have an account with Microsoft already, your employee can create free Outlook email addresses for each user.
Each user will have their own login and password for the computer. It will open with their own desktop and apps.
If your employees are working remotely with home PCs, consult with an IT technician to make sure their machines meet security standards. Contact us at techsupport@omnistech.com to schedule a free consultation.