Credit: TechCrunch
Because this is something we apparently have to deal with now.
As we mentioned last week, Zoom users have been having a problem with eavesdroppers and trolls spontaneously showing up in their work chats and annoying everybody. I guess that’s one of the downsides about the whole office working from home (aside from the obvious one); you and all of your coworkers are at the mercy of the entire internet. In the interest of a proper day’s productivity, here are a few things you can try to keep your Zoom chat a little more air-tight.
First, chat codes. A Zoom meeting automatically generates a 9-digit code. Anyone with the code can access the meeting. The first and most obvious thing to do here is not share the code with anyone who shouldn’t have it. Don’t post it on any social media or anything like that. Unfortunately, even if they don’t have the actual code, spammers can still brute-force the code to get in anyway. For that reason, consider password-locking your meeting. Even if they get the code, without the password, there’s no entry. As with the code, though, make sure only employees have the password. If you don’t mind a little extra legwork, you can also enable the Waiting Room feature, which keeps all participants in a separate chat until you personally approve them. That way, even if a jerk shows up, you can quickly send them on their way.
Credit: Zoom
If you’re the admin for a chat, you have a few extra tools at your disposal. For one thing, you have the ability to restrict screen sharing. This way, nobody else can share stuff, at least without your express go-ahead. A spammer could still appear, but at least with screen-sharing disabled, they can’t start bombarding you with outdated memes. You can also lock the meeting entirely, which makes it so nobody else can join beyond whoever’s already in there. Just make sure you weren’t expecting anyone else.
It’s pretty lame that this is even something we have to worry about right now, but I guess that’s just the way the news goes. It could be worse; you could be having a meeting in person and some dude dressed like Pennywise could run in and start screaming at everyone.
