Wi-Fi security on the road

Wi-Fi makes your computer's resources available to users around you. On your home network you may not be too bothered about this, but outside the home this is an important consideration. Here's how to keep your system secure while on the road:

• Make sure each PC has up-to-date antivirus and firewall software.
• Always carefully consider whether important personal or work information should be stored on a laptop, as they are particularly vulnerable to theft.
• Secure any personal information, banking or credit card details. Software such as Password Safe (available free to download) will encrypt all passwords so you need remember only one password.
• If you’re using a wireless laptop to connect away from home, such as a Wi-Fi access point, you may find that you’ll see a lot more computers in your workgroup because everyone is running under the default name ‘MSHOME.' Remember anyone else would be able to see your shared documents, so changing your workgroup will keep out the curious and the opportunists, but it won’t keep out the determined, so you may wish to remove documents from your shared documents before going out!