đź•’: Five minutes
Ever hear the expression that “staying in is the new going out”? Well the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has turned working from home into the new going out. Never before in the history of mankind have as many people been forced to work remotely from the comfort of their own homes.
Of course, working from home presents a whole new series of challenges that you wouldn’t find working in an office. Being left unsupervised can lead to a drop in productivity and distractions becoming more and more frequent. However, there is a way to overcome such problems.
Thankfully, we at Franchise Europe know all about working from home and what you need to do so. We even have a few tricks up our sleeves in the form of the 13 best browser extensions that you can download which make working from home that little will bit easier.
1. AdBlock
It would be unjust to kick off any list of essential extensions for working from home by not having Adblock top of the pile.
Let’s be honest, we all hate internet ads. For most of us, they are the bane of our existence and can halt productivity quicker than any podcast or Netflix series could ever do. We’ve all found ourselves working away in a satisfying manner when suddenly an ad pops up for that completely disrupts our train of thought.
This is where Adblock comes in. Basically, what Adblock does is stop you from getting whacked in the face by spam filled ads that are trying to sell you everything you’ve Googled or thought about Googling.
Thankfully Adblock works in the background. Once installed, it protects you from every possible Chrome ad you could imagine, including Facebook and YouTube.
When it comes to extensions that allow you to remotely access your computer from your phone, tablet or another computer, there are hundreds that will do the trick. What makes Chrome Remote Desktop among the best is that it is simple to use and probably the most effective there is out there at the moment.
3. Just Read
Let’s be honest, most websites don’t have your best interest at heart. All they want is for you to click on ads, sign up to newsletters, click on another article, register for a webinar, etc.
This is where Just Read comes in. It strips away all the fluff and annoying stuff that makes up most web pages and lets you just read the content. With a single click, pop-ups, page ads, and comments became obsolete. It’s even customisable to suit your reading needs.
4. StayFocused
Hands up if you tend to spend far more time than you should on social media and time-wasting websites. Believe us, you’re not alone. We’re all guilty of it. This list probably would have been completed hours ago if it wasn’t for these types of sites.
Luckily, StayFocused is the perfect extension to help you avoid procrastinating online. StayFocused restricts how much time you’re able to spend on distracting websites. Once downloaded, you get allotted a daily time and once this time has been met, the website gets blocked for the day. It is the ultimate extension to help you get back on track.
5. News Feed Eradicator for Facebook
This one should be top of your extension wish list. The news feed on Facebook is probably one of the worst things you’ll come across online. It is filled with countless videos of cute animals, clickbait news articles, and the latest pictures of your ex (the one you stayed friends with) and her new romantic interest. That is why News Feed Eradicator for Facebook is the must download extension of 2020.
So what exactly does it do? Exactly what is says on the tin. It eradicates your Facebook news feed and replaces it with an “inspirational” quote. You know the ones. The type that are more preachy than inspirational.
Even with the extension in place, you can still post updates, open messages and stalk check your ex’s profile whenever you want. It just block you from seeing the endless fluff that Facebook has appear on the news feed.
Speaking from experience, it definitely makes Facebook far less addictive and gives you a feeling of control over the social media giant.
If you read this one to quickly, you might think you were reading the title of a Freddie Mercury song. Come to think of it, it probably is a play on words of The Great Pretender. Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end.
The Great Suspender takes all the background tabs that you have open but haven’t checked for a while and suspends (not closes) them and thus frees up the memory and processing power. Your computer will be on its hands and knees thanking you with this brilliant little extension.
7. Grammarly
If you’ve ever tried to watch a YouTube video then chances are you’ve seen an ad for Grammarly as they make a constant appearance on the site.
If you’ve ever used “they’re/their/there wrong then Grammarly is the perfect extension for you. What makes Grammarly so unique is that aside from spelling and grammar checks, it also provides you with suggestions on writing style, tone and word choice to help your writing be the best it possibly can be.
8. Writer
Writer is plain and simply the internet typewriter that you didn’t know you needed. It is perhaps the ultimate distraction-free tool for those who easily lose themselves in finding the perfect font, text colour or line spacing. How so? Well for one it doesn’t allow you to customise text whatsoever. That’s right. It is just you and your words.
If you’re a gamer who loves the Fallout video game series then an added bonus will be that the display looks very similar to the screen of a Pip-Boy.
Is there anything more frustrating than exiting a browser session when what you actually meant to do was exit a tab? Well with Toby you never need to worry about this again.
Toby saves your browser session as you go along and makes sure that if you do accidentally exit it that you can simply click back into the exact same session within a couple of seconds.
10. LastPass
If you’re still writing your passwords down on a piece of paper or an excel sheet, or worse, trying to keep them in your head, get with the times, old man. Better yet, get LastPass.
LastPass is the perfect password manager that saves your login credentials across your devices in one safe place. The best part is that it’s free. All you need is one master password to access and entire vault of passwords for the many profiles, accounts and addresses you’re bound to have accumulated over the years.
Have you ever been in the middle of typing something important and then for some reason you either delete it or the page crashes? Nightmare! Well that problem is now a thing of the past with Typio Form Recovery.
Typio automatically saves all text as you type and allows for easy recovery in the event of loss of data. You also have full control over which sites the text auto-save is enabled on and for how long the input is saved for.
Seriously, how did you manage before this extension? Did we actually retype all lost text from scratch? Like cavemen!
12. Zoom
Without a doubt, Zoom has become the most popular extension to use during COVID-19. Everybody is using Zoom to host meetings, quiz parties, or just chat with family or friends.
Zoom allows users to schedule, join, manage, and customize meetings from mail and Google Calendar. It also provides HD video, audio, and content sharing across mobile, desktops, phones, and conference room systems.
13. Giphy
Last, but certainly not least is Giphy. If ever there was a situation where the mood needed to be lightened with a GIF then this is it.
Respond to emails, tweets and much more with GIFs and Stickers that are perfect for all occasions. Just be careful not to send one to the CEO of someone extending their middle finger. That’s on you!
<h4>To find your perfect franchise, take a look at the wide range of opportunities in our A-Z Directory.</h4>