Camping with electronics

Originally Posted by Bluegrass

Security - Yes, definitely stash the computer where it can't be seen when you leave your rig. Also use the feature that requires a password to start your computer. It's a minor pain but puts an impediment in the way of the casual thief, the most likely type who would steal your computer.

Every computer that I have every used had the ability to specify a password to boot it up.

Some computer, these days, allow you to specify a password for the hard drive. What this does is add a layer of protection so that if a bad person takes the hard drive out of the computer/laptop and tries to use it in a different computer/laptop, they will need the hard drive password.

fwiw, My employer has switched from using a boot password to a hard drive password. If you are worried about someone stealing the data, this might be worth considering when making a purchase.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by harveyrv

You don't have to worry about using inverters or surge protectors with your laptop. The laptop works off of an internal battery. All the 110V plug does is charge the battery and they are not that picky about voltage level or sine waves.

I agree with Wayne on this particular point. Laptop computers exist in a truly international marketplace, and they are designed to work with power anywhere in the world. And some of that power is pretty poor quality.

Take a look at the plug-in wall-wart that powers your computer. Mine is from Dell, it says "Made in Thailand". It has the power-certification stamp from UL (Underwriters Lab, required in the US), and from 24 (!) other certification agencies from all around the world. It also says that it will work with wall-socket voltages from 100 VAC (the standard in Japan) to 240 VAC (the standard in most of Europe), 50 cycles, 60 cycles - anything you are going to find anywhere. Just plug it in, no change or adjustment needed.

With apologies to Bluegrass, the idea that computers are especially sensitive to power supply is one of the most pervasive of Internet myths. It may have been true 20 years ago, but even my Commodore Vic-20 (1980 - anyone remember those?) was perfectly happy with international power. In fact, they will be perfectly happy with almost any sort of crummy 3rd world power, as seen above. Waveform (pure sine, modified sine, square wave) really doesn't matter.

Apologies for the lecture - but don't get sucked into buying a $500 super-duper-pure-sine-wave inverter to power your sensitive computer.

Bill

I have taken my laptop with me on my trips for years, both camping and overseas found it extremely beneficial. I use it to store information on places I want to see, to store pictures (I tend to take my pictures in raw format, which means they are larger, and having the computer to store them has been extremely helpful), to watch TV, and to keep info on sightseeing options. As I am new to TM, I never had a place to lock it inside while camping before and our trips were cross-country out of the Prius or using a small tent trailer -- here is what I found.

A small inverter is suitable, (check the ratings—they usually say if they are rated for computer, etc.) I use it to charge other small electronics also, I keep a small surge protector on it, just as a precaution, when charging any small electronic device.

I found that the Wi-Fi may or may not be accessible from the campsite, but many places, including Mesa Verde, CO had a hotspot (often the store and lodges in the National Parks have had access, even if it wasn’t available to the whole campground.) If it wasn’t in the campground, I found that usually it could be found somewhere in town, often near motels/hotels/coffee shops for free. In CA many of the state parks have Wi-Fi--even if they don’t have hookups. If I have the choice on sites, I drive around to see where I get good signal.

As for Safety- I keep a good firewall on my laptop, just to make sure my information is safe, but I don’t keep anything on my computer that if it was lost would be useful to anyone, that I keep on an external media, which isn’t left with my computer when I am away. I also keep my passwords in an encrypted program that sends them to the browser using encryption—that way I can be certain that no one can capture them (I have special hardware but there are many good programs that you can purchase to do this). I keep strong passwords for login –especially on the administer account and never login as administer on my laptop, that way if anyone did access it, they wouldn’t have administer privileges to access anything.

I found that my laptop easily fits under the passenger seat and leave it there when not in use while driving and use a computer daypack that is padded for the rest of the time it makes it look more like it is part of my camping stuff that way and keeps it protected from the elements, when not in use. I always bring a “cool pad” to keep it cool when using it and also to keep my lap cooler. A few years ago, we used it to while camping our way back to Denver in late October early November and had no problems, even though it snowed in Bryce our last night there. We had similar results going this year in spring while exploring Utah and western Colorado, and we hit freezing temps on both trips.

I choose not to take a TV, instead I use a USB tuner with my laptop I found the screen is big enough to watch movies. I got a tuner that allowed me to “tape” from an external source (DIRECTV box, etc) to my laptop to take free movies with me. If you have a TIVO it has software to transfer the shows directly to the computer. I also have a Slingbox, so if I do get Wi-Fi, I can watch whatever is on @home that I didn’t take with me.
Maps—I use a map program and plan my route in advance. I also keep a folder of info things to do En Route. This allows me to make changes to my itinerary quickly and determine travel times if I make changes (also good for daytrip planning). I got the Mountain Directory enter the areas that have steep grades before going in order to know what to avoid and have Bluetooth GPS to track on a larger screen than my Garmin (still like the garmin for driving, but this gives a bigger view).

[OneMoBear]

Hey all,

I know I'm way out of my league here so I know I'll get good advice.

I get the danger of accessing my banking information from an unsecured wi-fi but we're going to be gone a long time. I've considered just putting everything on the credit card just so I don't have to even think about what is going on with my checking account. I'm just wondering if any of you have any SPECIFIC suggestions (as in software to purchase, etc.) that I can get to make just that one thing safe. As you might have guessed, there is absolutely NOTHING on my computer of any value to anyone but me.

Thanks in advance,
Malinda

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by OneMoBear

Hey all,

I know I'm way out of my league here so I know I'll get good advice.

I get the danger of accessing my banking information from an unsecured wi-fi but we're going to be gone a long time. I've considered just putting everything on the credit card just so I don't have to even think about what is going on with my checking account. I'm just wondering if any of you have any SPECIFIC suggestions (as in software to purchase, etc.) that I can get to make just that one thing safe. As you might have guessed, there is absolutely NOTHING on my computer of any value to anyone but me.

Thanks in advance,
Malinda

Using your credit card is a great idea. Just keep tabs on what you spend and send a payment once a month. I used to have my mail sent to my brother (I was gone out of the country for 14 years). I would call him once a month and get an update on my C/C payment then just mail a check from wherever I was. Never had a problem........didn't have a computer either....

[OneMoBear]

We'll be in Wells Fargo land in CA and AZ so I can go to an ATM every now and then and take a look. We have a very nice income tax refund coming our way that will make the credit card bill go away when we get home . . .

It just kind of freaks me out to not take a look at things once in awhile.

Malinda

Originally Posted by OneMoBear

Hey all,

I know I'm way out of my league here so I know I'll get good advice.

I get the danger of accessing my banking information from an unsecured wi-fi but we're going to be gone a long time. I've considered just putting everything on the credit card just so I don't have to even think about what is going on with my checking account. I'm just wondering if any of you have any SPECIFIC suggestions (as in software to purchase, etc.) that I can get to make just that one thing safe. As you might have guessed, there is absolutely NOTHING on my computer of any value to anyone but me.

Thanks in advance,
Malinda

Hi, I use my credit card to pay for phones , internet, directv and insurance (the gas and water companies didn't offer credit card billing when I set it up years ago...so they bill to checking) This makes it easy 4 me, just log in to check credit card statement or bank.

As for software, do you mean firewall or password program --maybe both?

Also helps to know few other specs about computer and price range you are looking for?

Originally Posted by OneMoBear

Hey all,

I know I'm way out of my league here so I know I'll get good advice.

I get the danger of accessing my banking information from an unsecured wi-fi but we're going to be gone a long time. I've considered just putting everything on the credit card just so I don't have to even think about what is going on with my checking account. I'm just wondering if any of you have any SPECIFIC suggestions (as in software to purchase, etc.) that I can get to make just that one thing safe. As you might have guessed, there is absolutely NOTHING on my computer of any value to anyone but me.

Thanks in advance,
Malinda

Ok, so I just realized that you have an ITouch. Here is a great software product that you can use on both Itouch and laptop and sync together--It is "ewallet" from ilium software. I had it for my computer and old pda for years--i just recently upgraded when I got my Itouch as it is great to have all info with me wherever I go. It was great as I kept a list of all login/passwords and could keep the laptop/pda/ipod in sync....(the desktop app is discounted when you buy for iphone and desktop around $20 for both).

I love it because I always have access to all passwords (i keep them for the family). I also use it to store serial numbers for software, insurance info and tons more (you can design and store all sorts of "cards".) Recently they changed the so you can have it on multiple computers under one license, so i added it to DH's laptop and will put on his netbook soon . You can also use it to log into the websites --unfortunately, as with many of these programs, they are linked to Internet Explorer (but then so are my smartcard/tpm(Trusted Platform Module) programs which are hardware based security) (my point is that some people don't want to use Internet Explorer.)

I don't like recommend products usually, just thought this was pretty specific to your equipment and I know from having used it since 2001, on a several pda's, laptops that it isn't memory intensive and works well.

You can access secure systems via unsecured network connections easily. When you log in (to your bank etc.), just make sure the URL changes from HTTP to HTTPS. This indicates that the site is encrypting all of the sensitive parts of your transmissions like account data and exchanges. It's a good idea to always see whether you're on a secured link when appropriate by looking for the HTTPS designation.

BTW, we've been doing all of our banking etc. online for what seems like forever (maybe 15 years) and have never had an issue. It can seem scary though, I admit. Pretty soon we probably won't have a choice- everything will be electronic with most of it going over wireless connections.

Phil

Originally Posted by P and B

You can access secure systems via unsecured network connections easily. When you log in (to your bank etc.), just make sure the URL changes from HTTP to HTTPS. This indicates that the site is encrypting all of the sensitive parts of your transmissions like account data and exchanges. It's a good idea to always see whether you're on a secured link when appropriate by looking for the HTTPS designation.

BTW, we've been doing all of our banking etc. online for what seems like forever (maybe 15 years) and have never had an issue. It can seem scary though, I admit. Pretty soon we probably won't have a choice- everything will be electronic with most of it going over wireless connections.

Phil

Phil, Good point, but still having a good firewall is important--I look for one that does "stateful Packet inspection", so your computer see if it is an intruder ... especially as an unsecure network connection is still that... Here is an old fbi piece on wi-fi from 2008... The program that I mentioned has the actual url you loaded in it, so it cuts down on risk of the misdirected ones mentioned...

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/may08/wifi_050608.html
How do hackers grab your personal data out of thin air? Agent Peterson said one of the most common types of attack is this: a bogus but legitimate-looking Wi-Fi network with a strong signal is strategically set up in a known hot spot...and the hacker waits for nearby laptops to connect to it. At that point, your computer—and all your sensitive information, including user ID, passwords, credit card numbers, etc.—basically belongs to the hacker. The intruder can mine your computer for valuable data, direct you to phony webpages that look like ones you frequent, and record your every keystroke.
“Another thing to remember,” said Agent Peterson, “is that the connection between your laptop and the attacker's laptop runs both ways: while he's taking info from you, you may be unknowingly downloading viruses, worms, and other malware from him.”