Traveling security for my laptop (wifi, etc.)

Factual Questions
1

I’ve come to the wifi thing a little late. I just got a wifi card for my laptop so I can access the Internet access at while traveling. It’s working okay, but I’m concerned about security.

I’ve been Googling, and lots and lots of sites talk about security, but pretty much all they say is that it’s a good idea, and be careful because wifi connections aren’t secure. But they don’t provide many practical nuts and bolts recommendations.

Until now, I’ve only used dialup connections to access ATT Global for my mail and Web access, so I haven’t bothered with extensive security measures.

But logging into a foreign network has me a little concerned. What do I need to do to protect myself from viruses and intruders, etc.

On my home network, my notebook can share files and printers with my other computers. So when I’m traveling, I’ll turn file sharing off. I have Norton Internet Security which, when at home, treats IP addresses 192.168.0.1-5 as trusted. That has to change.

Norton Antivirus is updated and running.

So what else should I do?

Thanks.

2

bump.

3

Most people give internet security too little thought. OTOH, you are worrying way more about this than I have in the past.

Turn off File and Print sharing in Windows like you said. I don’t have a copy of Norton Internet Security on this computer but I know it is intuitive. I would turn its firewall on. You could glance at the rest of the features to see if there is anything else obvious that you want to turn on.

Norton Antivirus will work just as well on the road as at home. The only way you could get viruses is through e-mail or files that you download.

That should do it.