Homeoffice


Now that many are asked to work from home as a measure to avoid or reduce COVID-19 virus infection you might meet some challenges using your home computer. These computers are outside Apply control and management and might need a bit of update and preparations to ensure that you can work comfortably from home.

This guide is based on Windows 10 since but should apply to Windows 8 as well. 

Most PC owners don’t pay too much attention to their PC and especially today when many users can cover most of their needs using a cell phone or a pad. 

It is time to blow of dust from the good old home computer and prepare it for home office duty. This if you don’t have brought with you your Apply Computer.


This guide will cover the following topics: 

  1. Driver booster, https://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php
  2. Windows Update
  3. Win 10 major Update, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
  4. Edge Chromium, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501095/download-the-new-microsoft-edge-based-on-chromium 
  5. A web browser plugin that’s a must-have. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clickonce-for-google-chro/kekahkplibinaibelipdcikofmedafmb 
  6. Citrix Workspace App, https://www.citrix.com/downloads/ 
  7. Office 365, https://portal.office365.com 
  8. Antivirus
  9. Chocolatey/Ninite
  10. Tips for Apply users

 

Driver Booster



Your PC has a lot of hardware that requires drivers. Windows 10 will recognize most hardware and provide a driver, but still, you will have a lot of outdated drivers. A useful tool I recommend is Driver Booster that’s currently in version 7 at the time of writing this guide. The Free version of the tool can be found here: https://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php. It will scan your PC and offer a convenient way to update all outdated drivers in one click. 

Running this utility will make sure your drivers are up to date.

 

Windows Update


Updating Windows is important and something you should do regularly. In most cases, Windows will inform you about available updates and allow you to install them. The updates help make sure your system runs smoothly and ensure that your PC has the latest features, bug fixes, and security updates/patches. Windows will periodically check for updates and install automatically and is a convenient way to keep the system updated. However, you might want to check for updates if you encounter problems or bugs 



If you click the icon in the right lower corner of your screen, and then all settings, a “control panel” will open. Select Update & Security



Alternatively, you can click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your display and type wup and then click Check for Updates.



 

Click the Check for Updates button to search for updates/patches online. If the search return one or more suggested updates, then please apply them.


 

When done, your PC’s operating system is updated to the current standard.

 

Windows 10 November 2019 Update


Microsoft releases large updates twice a year and these will eventually be available using Windows Update. I like to install these as soon as they are available, and the current release is 1909. To get this installed manually you can visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10



Click the Update now button to start the Microsoft Update assistant. This will start the process that will work in the background. You can continue to use the computer until it asks for a restart. You can initiate the restart whenever you want but when initiated, your PC will be busy for the next 30min to 1 hour.

 

Edge Chromium


A close up of a logo Description automatically generatedMicrosoft released a new web browser in January 2020, Edge chromium. A brand-new browser based on the open-source engine from Google. It is quite an improvement compared to Edge and good old IE (Internet Explorer) and I recommend installing it and remove IE and Edge. Simply because it is faster, better and quite nice to use.

 

 

It can be installed from this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4501095/download-the-new-microsoft-edge-based-on-chromium 

As a default, it will use Bing as search engine. To change that you open Settings by clicking the 3 dots in the upper right corner of the new browser.




Then select Privacy and services and scroll down to the bottom in the right part of the settings page.



Click the arrow pointing to the right next to the Address bar and select the search engine you prefer. My preferred is DuckDuckGo. Read more about why here: https://spreadprivacy.com/why-use-duckduckgo-instead-of-google/ 


 

There are alternatives to Edge Chromium and you can find a list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers 

OK, now you have a modern web browser.


A web browser plugin that’s a must-have 


At OnePlace you find links to applications like IFS. When clicking you want the application to start up and not just be downloaded as a file that you need to click to start. This can be “fixed” by installing a Plugin that will start up all Click Once programs when the user clicks the link. Apply offer these at https://ifs.apply.no or you can install it from the Chrome Stores. Click the link below

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clickonce-for-google-chro/kekahkplibinaibelipdcikofmedafmb



You will have to click the blue bar on top to allow plugins to be installed. 



Then you click the button Install to install the plugin and your set to go.


 

Citrix Workspace App


To be able to log onto your company’s Citrix solution you will need Citrix Workspace app. This can be downloaded for free at https://www.citrix.com/downloads/



Install it and your set to go.


 

Office 365


As an Apply employee, you have access to install an Office suite on your home PC. This can be done by going to https://portal.office365.com. Log on using your Apply username and password.



You will see a button Install Office. Click it and your done.

 


Antivirus


The built-in Antivirus solution in Windows 10 is good and does not leave a huge footprint. It runs in the background and is updated through Windows Update. Alternatively, you can find a solution by visiting pages like this: https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/best-really-free-antivirus-for-windows/.

I like to read reviews and find a solution that is OK and not too intrusive regarding adds or nag about upgrading to a pro version. Per today I am using the one provided by Microsoft.

 


Chocolatey/Ninite


Nerd alert. This section is focusing on installing software. All those small utilities we need every day. Stuff like 7-Zip, Spotify, Paint……

Some years ago, many, I started to use an online service Ninite (www.ninite.com). It is a quite user-friendly site that enables you to tick off all the utilities/programs you want and install them all in one operation. The selections you make are compiled into a small exe file you can save on your PC and run whenever you want. It will update all the programs installed using Ninite and you can use the same file for installing it all again if your one of those that reinstall operating system now and then.


 

Another option is Chocolatey, my favorite. Visit https://chocolatey.org and install. You find a large Install now link in the upper right corner of the site. Alternatively, open PowerShell using Run as Administrator option and type in the following command: 

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1’))

Go to https://chocolatey.org/packages and finds the package you want to install. You can search for packages or sort the list so that it presents packages in the order you prefer. 



When you find the package you want installed, you simply click the blue icon to the right for the install command. This will copy the command you need into memory. In PowerShell (run as administrator), paste it in there.



Hit Enter and you're done. 

Let’s say you have installed 10 programs using Chocolatey. Now and then you want to update them all and preferably using just one command. choco upgrade all -y

For the advanced user, why not make a script that runs choco upgrade all -y using Task Scheduler.


This document is written by Trond Høiberg and as a tool to assist my colleagues. If you need IT assistance to be able to work, you should address these to Evry support. However, if your stuck, need help and it is urgent, you can contact me on Skype/Email or cell phone. Details you find at OnePlace searching up SC-22851. 

 

 

Tips for Apply users