Wireless technology has freed the world to work and communicate from virtually any location and any setting. The days of being tethered to a wall are long gone for most of us, and our laptops make using the internet possible in airports, the library, grandma's house, and even in the neighborhood coffee shop down the street.

When you are at home, you are probably working through a secured connection, which provided a large degree of protection to you and your files. However, the same cannot be said when you are connected at a public place; in this context, hotspots are usually the route you must take if you want to use the internet. Hotspots are wireless local area networks which provide free service within a community. When using a hotspot, there are steps you can take to safeguard your files from prying eyes.

– Make sure you disable print and file sharing. Other computers sharing the same network will no longer be as easily able to access the information you have on your laptop. It is fairly easy to do, and the only tedious thing about disabling is remembering to turn print and file sharing back on later!

– You need to stay in control of what network you are using as an access point. Your laptop can be configured to ask for your approval when accessing instead of doing it automatically. There will no doubt be 4 or even 5 different access points at your location: not being able to select which one you want to use could lead to trouble.

– Use your firewall for extra protection. Your firewall may not necessarily be in action on your laptop: check before using hotspots! It will help to weed out any undesirable information traveling through your shared network that may want to infiltrate your computer and do damage.

– Some jobs require people to travel extensively, and you may end up using hotspots more often than not. In that case, it may be a good idea to take extremely sensitive materials off your PC altogether. If the files are used for your work, you can use your company's VPN to use it when necessary, instead of constantly exposing data to the threat of hacking.

Wireless technology has truly revolutionized the way the world works, communicates, and plays. The existence of hotspots can be both a blessing and a curse, but if you are careful and take the proper precautions to safeguard common access to your files, being able to connect virtually anywhere will be a great advantage.

For the very latest technology in quality wireless equipment manufacture, contact the experts at Renasis (http://renasis.com/). Art Gib is a freelance writer.