1) Your first step should be to set up a firewall. Especially if you use your laptop on the road, doubly so in public WiFi hot spots, you need a firewall installed and running. These access points are not secure, so everyone has to take action to protect themselves.
2) Very important is to disable Ad-hoc mode on your Wi-Fi card. You should use only connections which you have set up using your own, or XP's built in tools. An instant network you've never heard of may very well be bad news. Definitely disable Ad-hoc mode before entering a hot spot, there may be networks present, most of which you do not want to access and you most certainly do not want accessing your computer.
3) Disabling all file and printer sharing when you are not in the home or office is an important security measure. You should get into this habit; otherwise when you're connected in a hot spot, you are leaving your laptop open to all users in the area. It only takes a few seconds to turn off file and printer sharing - you can turn it back on when you need it and this step will keep a lot of potential trouble from ever happening.
4) You can further protect personal information my making the folders which contain them private. This also takes only a moment and gives you an extra layer of security. Your information is still there of course, but is now far more difficult for others to look at.
5) Password protection is another good idea. You can even password protect individual files. There's plenty of software available which can take care of this task. The password can be the same for each file you want to password protect, or each can have a unique password. Again, this is a good security measure to undertake before connecting in a hot spot.
6) You should also take steps to ensure the security of your laptop at home. This entails a security cable to lock your laptop down to a strong, stable surface. Lock up your laptop whenever you are not using it - this will make it quite difficult for anyone to steal it, even if your home is burglarized.
7) Some newer laptops have hardware-level security measures built in, such as encryption. Your data becomes almost impossible for others to gain access to - all of your files are protected by a layer of encryption before any hacker can even get to the operating system. Laptops with this level of security include the newer models of ThinkPad and the Toshiba Protégé. These models also have fingerprint readers, which are stronger than passwords; of course, no one ever forgets their fingerprints.
8) Disable the Guest Account on your system. Windows 2000 and later systems disable this by default, but it is always a good idea to make sure that this account is indeed disabled. You can further protect yourself by assigning a password to this account and restrict it from logging on.
9) Rename your Administrator account. Now this will not necessarily stop a hacker, but will add an extra step. Some hackers may simply move on to an easier target. Don't rename the account to anything with "Admin" in the name, this is far too obvious. Choose a name that sounds less important.
10) You can also create a dummy Administrator account on your system. Give this account a difficult password and give that account no login privileges or access to anything. Enable auditing if you do this so that you can know if and when anyone tries to hack this account.
Bonus) Configure your computer's Crtl+Alt+Del behavior to prevent displaying the username of the last login. This will make things easier for hackers; they have an easier time with any password guessing attack this way.
Bonus) If you have an Infrared Port on your laptop, disable it. It is extremely likely that you need or even use this feature on your computer, but it can be used to access your files by other computers nearby. You can disable this port via the BIOS settings, or failing that, cover it up with a piece of electrical tape.
Bonus) If you are running Windows NT or later (2000, XP), use the far more secure NTFS file system instead of the older FAT32 file system. FAT file systems don't support file-level security, which is like putting out a welcome mat for hackers.
Making certain that your laptop is protected is critical; the reality is that important personal information can be stolen from any computer without precautions. Stealing the information from a laptop is much easier since the computer is moving around and can quickly create a huge disaster.
Best Rated Laptops Security Guide
Laptop security, everything you need to know to protect your property, personal data and identity.
http://www.best-rated-laptops-guide.com/laptop_security.html
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