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It’s a question I don’t think I’d heard since I was a kid, but it came up again, last week, when I was working on my laptop in a coffee shop: what do you do when you need to use the toilet?

And it’s a good question, for mobile workers, like me. What do you do? Do you leave your laptop at the coffee table and hope no-one swipes it? Do you ask someone nearby to watch it and risk inadvertently inviting them to steal it? Or, do you risk suspicion, and take it with you?

(Ed. note: Coral writes about her experiences in her Virgin Mobile Worker Diaries.)

I opted to ask someone to watch my laptop for me, while I nipped to the gents. But the whole experience raised the issue of security for mobile workers: How do you protect your laptop from thieves, hackers and prying eyes?

Here are some of my tips. I’d love to hear yours in the comments.

1. Leash it up. When I was at university, I used the ominous-sounding Kensington Leash to protect my laptop from ne’er-do-wells. It’s basically a steel cable that you can lock to your laptop then loop around a fixture, like a pipe or radiator. My laptop at the time had a slot for it, but you can use an adaptor to secure yours.
2. Use a firewall. Most modern operating systems like Windows 7 and Mac OS X will set you up with a firewall and protect you from hack attacks, but make sure it’s definitely turned on before connecting to a public hotspot. Be wary of those hotspots that don’t ask for a password, and probably wait until you get home to do your online banking.
3. Get some privacy. If you’re working with sensitive data, on a hot idea or just don’t like working with someone peering over your shoulder, get a privacy filter, which fits like a film over your screen, blacking it out unless you’re sitting directly in front.
4. Use the lock screen. On both Windows computers and Macs, you can switch from your active desktop to a lock screen, which requires a password to escape. In Mac OS X, click Login Window in the fast user switching menu; in Windows 7, press the Windows key + ‘L’. Handy, if you don’t want anyone peering at your work, while you’re getting another cup of coffee.
5. Find a stolen laptop. If you’ve followed all of these steps and, unfortunately, your laptop is stolen, there is a chance you can recover it and help the police catch the thief with a clever bit of software. Undercover for the Mac uses Wi-Fi positioning to locate your laptop within a range of 10-20 metres. It takes screenshots at regular intervals, which will sooner or later reveal the thief’s identity, and uses your Mac’s iSight camera to transmit photos of the thief and their surroundings. There’s something similar for Windows computers, called LoJack. 

What do you do to protect your laptop from thieves, hackers and prying eyes? Have you ever had anything stolen whilst working on the move? What did you learn from the experience?

Also, what do you do when you need to use the toilet?!

San Sharma (@WorkSnugSan) is community manager at WorkSnug.
Photo credit: Steve took it