Google Drive Tips You Really Shouldn't Miss

Google Drive is one of the most used cloud storage services, partly due to the fact that it is automatically integrated with every Google account. The service provides some really nice features, both for file storage, and for creating shareable, cloud-hosted documents, spreadsheets, slides, and a lot more. While Google Drive is used by a lot of people, not everyone might know all its cool features that are offered by the cloud service, and the plethora of add-ons that are available for it.

Here is a collection of some great Google Drive tricks that can be very useful to anyone who wants to make the most out of Google Drive.

View Google Drive Keyboard Shortcuts

If you are looking to expand your knowledge of the keyboard shortcuts that work inside Google Drive's web app, you can simply press "Ctrl+/" and you will be shown a card with all the different keyboard shortcuts that are available in Google Drive.

See Your Files Sorted by Size

Google Drive sorts uploaded files and folders by the "Latest Modified First" rule. This can be useful because it makes sure that the files you have uploaded the most recently are present at the top for easy access. However, if you're running low on available space on your Google Drive account, you may want to sort the files by their size, in order to determine where you can save the most.

To do this, hover your mouse on the Upgrade storage option at the bottom left panel of the Google Drive homepage. This will bring up a window with the breakdown of your usage, click on Drive, and Google Drive will sort all your files by Size.

Automatically Save Emails and Attachments to Google Drive

Save Emails and Attachments is another add-on for Google Sheets that lets you define rules based on factors such as the sender's email ID, the subject, message size, attachments, etc., and the add-on will run every hour automatically, and sync emails from your Gmail account into a spreadsheet. It also saves a copy of the email as a PDF inside Google Drive, along with any attachments in the email.

The add-on can also be run manually if required, by going into Addons > Save Emails and Attachments > Manage Rules > Run Manually.

Add Multiple Rows and Columns to Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a pretty well-rounded tool, and it provides almost every spreadsheet capability that someone might need. Combine that with the plethora of add-ons available for Google Sheets and you will see just how incredibly powerful it can get. However, Google Sheets only allows adding rows and columns one by one, but this can get tedious if you need to add multiple rows and/or columns to the spreadsheet. To resolve this, you can use the add-on called Add Rows and Columns, which allows you to add multiple rows and columns in Google Sheets with ease.

Save Web Content Straight to Google Drive

Google created a browser extension called Save to Google Drive that lets you add documents, images, links, and HTML5 audio and video files directly to Google Drive with a simple right-click.

To enable this on your desktop PC, download Google's free browser extension and authorize it on your computer. Then, right-click on the web content you want to save and then select Save to Google Drive. You'll be able to access that file on the Drive right away.

The Cost of Being Complacent on Protection Against Online Cyber Threats

Why do online cyber threats happen? The answer seems straightforward enough: An organization’s or individual’s computer security is compromised, enabling data breaches of employee records and theft of intellectual property. Moreover, it’s becoming more a question of an individual’s or IT department’s complacency on protection rather than the ability to fend off attacks. Hackers are always looking for those weaknesses in any system and complacency is certainly a weakness, a large self-inflicted breach in a defense wall, to put it bluntly.

Today’s threat environment is certainly daunting. Many online security experts have already been predicting that as of 2013 there would be at least one major data breach per month. And this outlook is somewhat conservative. In 2016 alone, there have been 411 recorded data breaches, exposing more than 11 million records. While not all incidents may qualify as “major,” they covered different sectors from healthcare to government, and have even affected basic services as in the case of the public transportation hacking in San Francisco recently.

Complacency makes defense difficult

Often, the problem begins with the defender or computer user. While it’s true that a hacker can find new ways to penetrate even the toughest defenses, this is extremely rare. Often, a hacker is handed the advantage by the user’s complacency. For instance:

§  Less than a third of computer, mobile, and tablet users install security software.

§  More than 63 percent of those with installed security software don’t even run virus checks.

§  40 percent don’t even know what safety breaches are.

§  Many mobile and tablet users use public Wi-Fi at malls for online banking.

§  More than 50 percent of Internet users are more concerned with speedy service than security. 

Businesses often feel they’re too big or too small to be in danger

Recent large data breaches confirm that even huge businesses need risk mitigation, while an insider threat can hit an organization of any size. In fact, more than half of security incidents involved a worker, former employee, or contractor. With even small businesses dependent on supply chains, the ingredients are there for a breach.

Not investing in endpoint security

Too often, businesses, big or small, just pay lip service to protecting customer data and company reputation. However, more than one-fifth of businesses of any size today lacked an enterprise resource management program, which could help with a breach. Again, it goes back to the basic complacency of “we’re not going to be targeted, anyway.”

Not vetting suppliers and failing to assign proper responsibility

Businesses are too heavily reliant on vendors and partners for credit card processing, supplies and materials, infrastructure maintenance, and consulting. Amid the growth of this ecosystem, leaders may assume that a breach caused by a contractor is not on them, despite their likely need to provide credit monitoring after such an event. This mindset can lead to the insufficient vetting of suppliers and the creation of weaknesses throughout the supply chain.

So the solution here is simple: Always stay protected. Remember the cliché, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of solution.” It’s a cliché worth noting. After all, what’s at stake here is your own computers and even your own business.