Your office might have the appearance of a warm and welcoming work environment, but deep down, you know that, behind the motivational posters and potted plants, your co-workers are dedicated to seeing your demise. To protect yourself, you will need to protect your workstation.

In the cutthroat game of office espionage, one amateur mistake that new employees tend to make is leaving their computer unattended. Sure, you may think that you're just leaving your desk for a moment to take a quick whiz-a-roo, but a moment is all your arch nemesis needs to destroy you by accessing your unattended workstation.

If your PC is left unattended, then your enemies have several crafty ways that they can sit in your chair and kill your career. It can be something as simple as instant messaging your boss under your name and telling him the new toupee looks tacky, or it can be something subtle like sabotaging the project you have left opened. If your rival happens to be one malicious S.O.B., then during the few minutes you are experiencing sweet relief, they could install malicious malware on your computer.

You will also want to keep in mind that a five minute trip to visit your porcelain friend can turn into 10 minutes, or even 30 minutes. These delays are usually due to unexpected encounters with people who like flappin' their yaps. What may seem like a casual chit chat about current events and weekends are really spies planted by your rival to keep you away from your PC for just a few minutes longer.

While you are chatting with Donna about little Billy taking his first steps last Sunday, your enemy was at your computer, using your e-mail account to frame you in a complex money laundering scheme. Look around at your co-workers; Donna, Shelly, Josh, even the nice HR lady, they are all in on it. You can't trust anyone.

The veterans in your company have survived because they use an age old secret called Windows+L. By hitting Windows+L, every time you get up and leave your desk, you will be locking any would-be perpetrator from accessing your computer, foiling their plans to assassinate your good name.

With your PC locked and Windows+L figured out, you will next have to choose a strong password you can use to unlock your computer. This requires another level of security to stay one step ahead of your foes. Your office nemesis has likely already researched your life. That friend request they sent you on Facebook wasn't because they wanted to really be friends. No, it was so they could mine your profile for personal information they can use against you.

For example, if your password is the name of your pet, and it's the same pet that you can't shut up about on social media, then it won't take too long for your "friend" to figure out that your password is "Mr. Kitty," log into your locked computer, and destroy you. To prevent this kind of high-level security breach, be sure to choose a password that's complex with random letters and characters, and make sure you never write it down, unless it's on a note that will self-destruct.

Network Synergy has been on the front lines of the office spy games for years. If you would like to employee our services to get a leg up on the competition, and tighten your own security so you are not vulnerable to your co-workers that are out to get you--which is everyone--then give us a call at (203) 261-2201; and please, take precautions to make sure that you're calling from a secure phone line.