If you find yourself spending more time at home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic you may be looking for a number of different services to help you get work done, get food and stay busy and entertained.
We've got you covered. Here is a roundup of services and apps that CNET has rated as the top of each category. We'll keep this updated as we review new services.
Read more: 9 ways to help avoid coronavirus when you need to leave the house
Skype -- owned by Microsoft -- is available for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac, and offers video and audio calling, as well as a messaging feature. It has an easy-to-use interface, and supports up to 50 people on the same audio call (the number of video callers depends on what device you're using, according to the company). Skype also lets you record, save and share your video calls, and has live captions and subtitles.
Read more: 7 free videoconferencing apps: FaceTime, Skype, Zoom and more compared
Zoom is a video conferencing app that works for Android, iOS, PC and Mac. It offers a basic free plan that hosts up to 100 participants, as well as options for small and medium business teams and large enterprises. Up to 1,000 users can participate in a single Zoom video call, and 49 videos can appear on the screen at once. Zoom is also temporarily lifting the 40-minute time limit on free Basic accounts for schools affected by the coronavirus, giving students and K-12 schools free access.
Read more: Skype vs. Zoom: Which video chat app is best for working from home?
Using a virtual private network gives you online privacy and anonymity, and helps you establish secure and encrypted connections -- especially important when working from home. If your company does not provide a VPN, CNET's Rae Hodge rates ExpressVPN as one of the fastest on the market: In her speed tests, using ExpressVPN resulted in less than 2% overall loss of internet speed -- while most other VPNs can reduce speeds by half or more. ExpressVPN also has a strong privacy policy, and does not collect logs of personally identifying user data. It's also easy to use, with a user-friendly interface.
Read more: The best VPN services for 2020
LastPass is a great password manager with a free version that lets you store passwords, user login info and credentials and sync all of it wherever you want -- across desktop, mobile and browsers. If you upgrade to Premium for $36 a year, you can share multiple passwords, logins, memberships and other items with trusted emergency contacts, and access multifactor authentication through YubiKey and a fingerprint scanner, and 1GB of encrypted storage.
Read more: The best password managers for 2020 and how to use them
Recently ranked the most popular food delivery app, DoorDash has 310,000 restaurants located in 4,000 cities worldwide, 80% of which are in the US, according to the company. The app's interface is a bit busy, but helpful: A menu of icons at the top of the screen lets you search by type of food or by rating level, price level, delivery in under 30 minutes or vegetarian options. If you're a frequent user, you can sign up for DoorDash's subscription service, DashPass: For $10 a month, you get free delivery and lower service fees from thousands of restaurants nationwide.
Read more: Best food delivery service: DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and more compared
Instacart shines on the grocery delivery front thanks to its wide availability: You can find the service in 40 states plus the District of Columbia, and delivery is typically available from a number of different grocery stores in an area, including pharmacies, pet stores and even liquor stores. Unlike another widely available grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh, you don't need to be a member to use it -- though there are delivery fees unless you become one.
Read more: Food delivery during the coronavirus pandemic: Follow these 3 rules to stay safe
With Home Chef, you can choose from more than 38 meal kits in any given week, including grill pack and one-pan dinner options. Meal kit examples include chipotle chimichurri mini pork meatloaves with roasted sweet potato, and garlic peppercorn salmon scampi with garlic cream gemelli and broccolini. One way Home Chef stands out from the pack, Chowhound's Pamela Vachon noted, is that it lets you customize the protein in your meal choices: For example, with some recipes, you can order double the protein without doubling the overall portion, or choose antibiotic-free protein instead of the standard option. Home Chef also offers oven-ready meals, which come with everything you need to cook including the cooking tray -- no dishes necessary.
Read more: The best meal kit delivery services of 2020: Home Chef, Blue Apron, HelloFresh and more
Netflix remains the premier TV and video streaming platform in an increasingly large bunch that includes Hulu, Disney Plus and Apple TV. It has a huge selection of movies and TV shows old and new, tons of high-quality original programs, and an easy-to-navigate interface. If you don't already subscribe, you can try it out free for 30 days.
Read more: Peacock vs. HBO Max vs. Disney Plus vs. Apple TV Plus vs. Netflix: How streaming stacks up
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