Travelling with laptop: Checklist for You

Notebooks are made to hit the road. But many people don't actually travel very often with them -- until vacation time, that is.

That's when lots of planning needs to be done to be sure that your notebook gives you what you need when you're away. Here's a checklist of things to remember when you're preparing your digital travel companion for the big trip.


Ditch your laptop bag

Thieves love notebook computers -- and for many of the same reasons you do. They're light, easy to transport, and they have a decent resale value.

So before you go, be sure you're not going to satisfy the needs of a notebook thief. First of all, consider ditching the notebook carrying case, since these scream "notebook computer" to everyone around you.

Notebooks and their accessories are small these days, and they can fit just as easily in a less conspicuous carrying case, such as a backpack or inside of carry-on luggage.

Go for tracing software

Of course, notebooks can be stolen in all sorts of ways, and some of those ways you really can't prepare well for. So if you keep valuable or sensitive data on your notebook, consider investing in tracing software that will help you or the authorities locate your notebook, should it get stolen.

Laptop recovery software includes packages such as Absolute Software's LoJack for Laptops, PC PhoneHome or zTrace. These programmes spring into action once the thieves attempt to go online with your notebook.

Depending upon the software, once the burglar goes online, either the notebook's location is tracked, the computer is locked down, or the data on the notebook is deleted or encrypted.

Backup plan

If the hard drive in your notebook computer is going to go belly up, the bumps and bruises of the road are likely to be the cause. So before you start moving, back up the data on your notebook computer.

External storage today is cheap, and using an external hard drive for backups is as easy as plugging in a USB cable. So don't put the task off. For critical data files, you may also want to consider using an online backup service, such as Mozy, which could make your most valuable data available to you from anywhere that you have an Internet connection.

Check battery usage

If you'll need to use your notebook computer for long periods of time on battery power -- as on a long flight, for instance -- you'll need to think about how best to conserve power. First, before you go, assess the longevity of your notebook computer's battery. Remember that older batteries lose their charge more quickly.

By far the biggest power drain on a battery is the notebook's LCD screen. Turning the LCD's brightness down can help conserve battery power, as can setting the LCD up so that it powers off more quickly than when you're at home.

If your notebook computer is equipped with features you don't use -- such as Bluetooth or WAN -- turn them off. Doing so will conserve yet more power and extend the life of the battery.

Ensure Internet access

These days, a notebook computer without Internet access can be pretty useless, depending upon your needs. So scope out your access to the Internet before you leave, and make provisions for having no access well ahead of time.

If you need Internet access only at a hotel, make sure that the hotel you stay at provides wireless or wired access. If wireless is the only access available, ask for a room as close to the wireless access point - or router - as possible.

If you need to stay connected while travelling by car, use a cellular data card for roving Internet access. This type of Internet connection is available anywhere that you can get cellular.

Check accessories

Finally, don't forget to make a list of all of the little accessories that make you truly productive with your notebook. Do you rely, for example, on a compact flash or other digital card reader to get images into your notebook? Be sure to throw that in the bag.

And will you be travelling to a foreign country where the electrical outlets are different? Get a universal power adapter at a local electronics store, and be sure to pack that. Everyone's notebook toolkit is different. Just remember to take yours.

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Cool Summer Laptops

Whether you're looking for a modest, low-priced netbook, a high-end graphics workstation, or something in between, here are our favorite models to put some sizzle in your summer.

Planning on traveling this summer? You'll want to bring a laptop along, and this is a great time to buy one if you can scrape together the cash. Retailers are offering "recession special deals," and manufacturers are vying to undercut each other to eke out greater sales. Netbooks are selling at unheard-of prices, and are much improved over their early iterations. Manufacturers have begun populating the gap between netbooks and mainstream laptops with highly portable, reasonably priced models. And large-screen desktop replacements can fill your entertainment needs and even be effective workstations for graphic designers.

On the netbook scene, the 8.9-inch models have largely been replaced by ones with screens of 10 inches (or larger). Two of our favorite 10-inch netbooks, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE and Acer Aspire One (10-inch) were launched within a day of one another back in February. Both are very solid machines. The Acer is slightly lower priced, but the 1000HE's typing experience is better. The two showed phenomenal battery life on our tests.

In an effort to rope in more demanding users, manufacturers are raising the bar by creating netbooks with larger screens (up to 12 inches) or full-size keyboards, or both. A prime example is the Samsung NC20. As of this writing, it's the only netbook with both a 12-inch screen and a full-size keyboard, though the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 will soon join this exclusive club. Unlike the vast majority of netbooks, which use the Intel Atom platform, the NC20 goes with VIA processing parts; they generated respectable scores on our benchmark tests.

Among the new breed of relatively inexpensive thin-and-light laptops with screens of about 13 inches, our favorite is the Acer Aspire 3935 (6504). Its bronze-colored frame is only an inch thick yet still manages to squeeze in a DVD burner. Its 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor and 3GB of memory helped it tally respectable scores on our benchmarks. This GreenTech Approved laptop managed 4 hours 50 minutes of battery life, despite having only a 39-Wh battery. The Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T (6415) is also a 13-incher yet, at just 3.6 pounds, is ultraportable; it's a pity that it lacks an optical drive. Thanks to an energy-efficient Intel CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) Core 2 Duo processor, it scored a phenomenal 8:40 on our battery tests.

If you're one of those folks whose laptop seldom (if ever) leaves the house, you might want a desktop replacement rig with more power and features and a larger screen size. The Dell Studio XPS 16 is our reigning media-center Editors' Choice. You can take advantage of its 16-inch RGB LED screen's 1080p resolution with the slot-loading Blu-ray drive (either read/write or read-only, your choice), and it has both HDMI and DisplayPort ports so you can pipe that glorious HD video to a still-larger display. The XPS 16's predecessor as Editors' Choice, the HP HDX16t, is still going strong. It also has a Blu-ray reader and 1080p resolution, and adds a TV tuner as well.

Another "oldie but goodie" is the Lenovo ThinkPad W700, a graphic artist's or photographer's dream laptop, with such features as an internal Pantone color calibrator, palm-rest digitizer, and quad-core power. Along with its magnificent 17-inch screen, Lenovo offers an optional 10.6-inch secondary display, so you can carry on with notes or correspondence without diverting your attention from the photo or design you're working on.

Whether you're looking for a netbook, a more powerful yet still very portable laptop, or a desktop replacement with all the bells and whistles, good choices abound. Here are some of the better candidates out there.

Featured in this Roundup:

ASUS EeePC 1000HE ($400 street)

The ASUS EeePC 1000HE is the best netbook package that money can buy right now.

Acer Aspire One (10-inch) ($350 street)

Acer proves that it's still the master of the netbook recession special with the new and improved Aspire One (10-inch).

Acer Aspire's 3935 (6504)($900 street)

The Acer Aspire's 3935 (6504) sleek metallic cover, 1-inch-thick chassis, and sheer portability are attributes that customers have been yearning for but hadn't been able to get in such a sweet deal.

Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T (6415) ($900 street)

The Aspire AS3810T (6415), Acer's new ultraportable, won't win any speed races and doesn't have an optical drive, but you get over 8 hours of battery life for just $900.

Samsung NC20 (21GBK) ($550 street)

Despite a slightly bloated price tag, the Samsung NC20 (21GBK) is the only netbook that has both a 12-inch widescreen and a full-size keyboard.

Dell Studio XPS 16 ($1,804 direct)

The Dell Studio XPS 16 delivers a lavish media-center experience with a unique design, home-theater features, and a vibrant RGB LED widescreen.

HP HDX16t ($1,790 direct)

The HP HDX16t is the sexiest 16-inch media center on the market, assuming you can live with the limited battery options.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700($4,240 direct)

The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 delivers a ton of wow features, including an internal color calibrator, a palm-rest digitizer, and an option for a secondary screen.

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Do you think Someone can Hack your email?

What's the name of the school you attended? What is the first name of your favourite cousin? Well, email services often protect acco
unts with these kind of security questions in case holders forget their password.

Now, a new study in the US has revealed just how easy the answers of such security questions are for other people to guess -- in fact these facts make life simple for hackers, the 'New Scientist' reported.

Researchers at Microsoft have based their findings on an analysis of an experiment, involving 32 email users. Acquaintances of the email users -- people with whom they wouldn't normally share their login details -- were asked to try and guess the answers users assigned to protect their accounts.

The volunteers managed to guess correctly a fifth of the time, raising questions over how secure the commonly used system is, the study found.

However, a second study by software giant Microsoft has suggested a more secure alternative -- relying on trusted friends to vouch for you if an account becomes locked.

"Securing webmail is important because email accounts typically allow an attacker access to other accounts, for example, eBay and Amazon. If I can recover these passwords via your email account then I can spend the balance of your credit card on flat-screen TVs," Ross Anderson of Cambridge University was quoted as saying.

Under the new system proposed by Stuart Schechter and Rob Reeder at Microsoft, users select several "trustees". If a user becomes locked out of their account their trustees receive a message asking them to download a "recovery code". The user must collect codes from multiple trustees to unlock their account.

A group of 19 Hotmail users trialed the system and 17 successfully regained access to their Hotmail account. That 90-per-cent success rate compares favourably to 80-per-cent success rate of the secret question system, say Reeder.

In the trial, most users recovered their accounts within two days. However, when the researchers got users' acquaintances to ask the trustees t
o give up the codes, many of them did so.

Reeder said this attack could be avoided by getting account holders to advise trustees of their role in advance. In the trial, trustees simply received an email containing the code out of the blue.

Rather than replacing the standard secret questions approach, the new method should be an optional choice for users, according to Anderson, who agrees that it is important to train trustees to be appropriately security conscious.

But the idea has promise, said Reeder, pointing out that it is not a new idea to have people use third parties to back up their identity.

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9 easy ways to improve your laptop's sound

Just say no to lousy laptop audio. With a few inexpensive upgrades, your notebook can sound like a million bucks.

Whether your laptop is a state-of-the-art screamer that cost you thousands of dollars or a budget model that cost just a few hundred, chances are its speakers make it sound about as good as an AM radio in the shower.

Notebooks have always come up short on sound because space and power limitations have meant everything is downsized, from audio chips and analog-to-digital converters to amplifiers and speakers. The result is tinny and distorted sound that never gets loud enough.

There is a better way. Just about every part of the laptop audio ecosystem can be improved. I've found nine audio enhancers that are easy to install and cost less than $130 each. You probably won't want to buy all 10 products, but you can mix and match to best meet your needs.

I tested them all on a Fujitsu LifeBook A6220 with Windows Vista and a Think Pad R52 with Windows XP; the hardest to install took all of 15 minutes.

The difference can be like night and day, with richer, clearer and more vibrant sound. Regardless of whether your listening tastes tend toward the BBC's Internet radio channel, videoconference chats or downloaded alt-rock, it's time to sound off for better notebook audio.

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Recycle Your PC the Right Way

Don't just toss out your old machine when you bring a new one. Here's the eco-friendly way to get rid of old hardware.

Bought a brand-spanking-new PC for the holidays? You're probably feeling pretty good about yourself. Not so fast. What do you plan to do with your old system? Don't just stash it in your basement or a closet, where it will come back to haunt you during next year's spring cleaning. Clearing the clutter out early will earn you a black belt in feng shui.

If your system still works, the best move is to donate it to a family member or local charity. Earth 911 (earth911.org), the CEA's myGreenElectronics.org, and the Electronic Industries Alliance (www.eiae.org) all have resources for finding a donation center in your area. But if the system's truly farkakte, be responsible and recycle it. Here's how to get it ready for retirement.

1) BACK UP YOUR FILES

Make sure you have all the files you might need from the system. You can back up to an external drive using the included software or the Windows backup utility (for XP Pro users, you can find this in the Start menu under Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Backup; XP Home users can find the Ntbackup.exe program on the Windows XP disc. You can also use boxed software, such as ShadowProtect Desktop 3.1 ($79.95, www.storagecraft.com) or Paragon Drive Backup ($49.95, www.drive-backup.com); online backup solutions, such as SOS Online Backup or the free DriveImage XML (www.runtime.org); or a free utility such as FolderShare.

2) WIPE YOUR HARD DRIVE CLEAN

Although a recycled computer will most likely be ripped up, don't assume that someone down the line won't try to plug it in—especially if the system still works. Just to be on the safe side, it's a good idea to wipe the hard drive completely, including the operating system to remove your version of Windows and your administrator's account. To do this, you can use a number of utilities, including WipeInfo on Norton System Works, Disk-Deleter Pro 2.2.0 ($39.95, www.bluestsoft.com), or a free online utility, Eraser 5.86. If you're really paranoid, you can remove the hard drive, open it up, and smash the platter with a hammer. (But before you do that, read step 3).

3) SALVAGE WHAT YOU CAN

Before you toss out the bytes with the bathwater, take a moment to consider whether there's anything inside that's still in good working order. If there is, you may be able to use it down the road. Since your power supply, graphics card, sound card, and mother-board are most likely outdated, they probably aren't going to be of much use to you, but hard drives, RAM modules, IDE cables, cooling fan, and optical drives are good examples of components that are easy to remove and less likely to become obsolete.

4) FIND A REPUTABLE RECYCLING LOCATION

Keep in mind that many recyclers charge a fee to take a desktop tower, monitor, or printer off your hands. The EPA's Web site has a useful page with a list and links to company take-back programs, big-box store recyclers (such as Best Buy and Circuit City), and local programs (www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/donate.htm). You can also check with your town's sanitation department. Some communities offer free take-back programs at certain times of year.

5) SPREAD THE WORD

Brag about your good deed to friends, family, and coworkers. Try to get your company to participate in a corporate take-back program. Send around links to recycling locations and possible donation sites. If you had a particularly good or bad experience with a certain company or recycler, e-mail or log on to discussion forums and let everyone know.