Hide Online Shopping at Work

3 Ways to Hide Your Online Shopping From the Boss on Cyber Monday

by Kristy Korcz 11/26/12 10 Reactions 56 Shares Print

Black Friday is a thing of the past — today is all about finding your holiday deals and savings online with Cyber Monday! While sales actually started at many stores online Sunday, with some others continuing on as Cyber Monday Week, scanning the sales from your cubicle puts you at risk for being reprimanded for browsing the virtual racks, or in some cases (seven percent according to a new study), even fired for holiday shopping at work. If you must hit the Cyber Monday sales on the boss' dime today, do so with caution. Here, a few tips to keep your online shopping habit a secret from the higher ups in your office.

Toggle screens — Quickly toggle between open applications with the Alt + Tab (for PC) or Open Apple + Tab (for Mac) keystrokes. This will allow you to quickly switch from your open web browser and work applications when you hear the boss tromping down your aisle.
Use your desktop wallpaper — Take a screenshot of an important spreadsheet, document, or collection of open applications and set it as your desktop wallpaper. Commence shopping. If someone approaches, use the keystroke of Windows + D on your PC or F11 on your Mac to switch focus to your desktop, which will conveniently be populated with your busywork instead of a photo of your boyfriend, dog, and/or kids.
Fake an Excel spreadsheet — If you're tweeting or Facebooking your finds, don't forget to keep that on the down low too. Applications like Spreadtweet and ExcellBook keep your social networking under wraps by disguising your feed as an excel spreadsheet.

Source: Thinkstock

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