How Not To Get Caught Looking at NSFW Content on the Job

Image via Complex Original

Prying eyes are the new spies. Whether it's the co-worker that sits next to you, or the person walking through the office that peaks over at screens as he passes by, good luck trying to keep your 21-inch monitor hidden. You know how flies always go toward bright lights? Everyone in your office is a fly and your computer is... well, you get it.

Let's get down to business: how can you view NSFW content on your monitor? One way is the privacy screen. They're a little pricey (some range from $30 to $80), but they provide privacy at certain angles. If you place one on your monitor, you'll be able to see everything just fine, but as you shift to the side (or from the perspective of someone walking by) the screen looks black, or at the very least, very dark. For 3M-branded screens, they promise about a 60-degree angle of privacy from the screen's position.

Check out some from Amazon.

If you're truly crazy about privacy, and want a sure thing, then this slightly complicated-slightly cool-hack is for you. By using an old LCD monitor, a knife, paint thinner, superglue, and a pair of 3D glasses, you can transform your monitor into the ultimate privacy rig. By removing the polarized film from an LCD monitor, cleaning the adhesive from the glass, and replacing the lenses of the 3D glasses with the polarized film, your monitor will look blank to everyone else, but perfectly normal to you (aka: NSFW content all-day now, baby! Well, maybe).

Check it out in the video above, or go to the instructions at Intructables here.  

If you want to get rid of the computer monitor problem altogether, simply don't use it, and opt for the computer in your pocket. Yeah, you're boss is going to hate seeing you on your phone, but their first thoughts are going to be you're on Facebook or texting, and not watching "Blurred Lines." By placing a privacy protector over your phone's screen, you'll have protection from passer-bys and those next to you. It's essentially the same thing as the computer monitor's privacy screen, but for your phone—which you know you use way more often.

Pick up one here. Oh, and get back to "work."

The great thing about computers nowadays is that they have the option of keeping multiple "desktops" open. Think of them as "pages." What this means is that you can have one "page" (desktop) open with your work or other relevant materials, and another desktop open with whatever content your heart desires. On Macs, hit the F3 key, and you should see an option above that says "Desktop." Move your mouse to the right and a new Desktop option should appear. Click it and begin organizing whatever windows you want for the new desktop. Once back on your homescreen, you can hold down "control" and hit the arrow keys to switch back and forth between desktops. Windows users, you can download the "Desktops" program to similarly do this. 

Laptops and tablets are the best for this. If you're in a cubical or in a corner where you can position yourself to face everyone, bring out your laptop or tablet and view that way. It might look a little strange, but co-workers may think you're changing positions to get more comfortable for a bit (you are, in a sense). This way, you'll be able to see anyone approaching, and you can quickly close your laptop or tablet fast and go on as normal.

Obama's doing it right, so can you.

One cool thing about iPad and Windows tablets, among other ones, is that they have the book-like covers that you can use to protect your screen (Microsoft's doubles as a keyboard). Literally, you can open and shut your tablet like a real book. So, if you're looking at questionable content, just bring out your tablet (which will be small enough so that your back will keep it from view if you're doing a good job of casually hiding it) so you can surf the net freely. Whenever you sense a co-worker approaching, simply close your tablet (while your work is still nice and opened on your computer monitor, of course). Then open it back up to resume.

Time for things to get a little extreme, because you're an extreme person, of course. If you're super paranoid about anyone suspecting anything, then you can set up the Stealth Switch. Stealth Switch is a pedal-like trigger you can place under your desk that connects to your computer's USB port. The cool thing about Stealth Switch is that you can set it up to for any keystrokes are hot keys, which include escaping out of your NSFW windows, all completely hands free. Click here to visit the webpage.

This is an easy one, but essential, none the less. Browsing privately isn't something that will keep your boss from not seeing that NSFW content on your screen, but it will keep him from finding out about it later. Private browsing and "incognito" is a feature that allows users to browse the internet without cookies, searches, or passwords being saved. As soon as you close a window, everything and all evidence is gone. Safari, Chrome and Firefox all have this option available.

Another easy thing to do: when you have you work open with NSFW content in the same browser, just open up a ton of windows, so the names of the sites you are visiting are shortened and unreadable. Literally, just open up a lot of random things if you need to, no need to get overly complicated with it. If someone is coming, just pick a random tab (that isn't NSFW) and wait for them to leave. Switching windows is a lot less suspicious than completely closing the window and looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

What's the best thing to do in any situation? Sleep on it. A cool trick for getting out of sticky NSFW situations is by using hot corners. Chances are, you don't know what that is, so we're here to help you out.

If you have Mac, go to System Preferences, and hit "Mission Control" if you have Lion, or Expose and Spaces in Snow Leopard, and click "Hot Corners" in the lower left or right-hand corner. A new window will pop up with our boxes, each corresponding to a specific corner of the screen. Pick a desired box, and select "Put display to sleep." Now, say if you hear your boss coming and you only have a matter of time to hide a ton of NSFW content on your screen, all you have to do is move your mouse to that corner of the screen and your Mac will automatically go to sleep. For Windows users, if your keyboard has a crescent moon on it, you can go to your computer's Control Panel and set that key to automatically put your computer to sleep as soon as you press it. Just make sure the coast is clear when you wake up your computer.