Computer Travel Tips - Technology tips for taking your computer on the road

We've learned most of these tips the hard way; setting up in a hotel room, ready to check email,

and the 32-bit application we just loaded before departing won't run over the 16-bit operating system. We've had computer crashes at important meetings. We've had batteries bail out just minutes into the second leg of a long flight when we could have charged batteries during a boring layover. We've seen portables bring home nasty viruses to the home and office. We've forgotten passwords that were so unmemorable and unhackable that we ourselves couldn't figure them out. We offer the following tips that others might learn from our trials and tribulations.

Create and bring setup and boot disks
A member of the IT staff learned this the hard way recently; bring setup and boot disks, as well as any necessary registration numbers for re-installs and downloads. Boot disks, or startup disks, is a floppy disk which contains all of the system files necessary to get your computer started. To do this in Windows 95/98, go to Settings under the Start Menu, choose Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. Choose the option labeled Startup Disk.

Load your virus protection
Many people load their virus protection on their home computer, but forget to do so on their portable computer. A virus is a virus is a virus, no matter where you get it.

Review your work habits, and make sure you have all the software and frequently-used files you use while working at the office.
This will keep you from getting caught on the road without a rarely-used, but essential, piece of software or file. For tasks or files you use often, creating template files can save you tedious reconstruction of document structures, for example, and maintain consistency in the look and feel of documents created or modified on the road.

Use the same software, even the same versions, at the office and on the road.
While on the road, comfortable work habits are already difficult to maintain; you don't need the added frustration of changing your routines for a different version, or, worse, different brand, of software, especially for high-volume tasks like word-processing and email.

Test any new software before you leave.
The intro says it all; make sure there are no conflicts in your software and operating systems; check that that easy install actually results in easy use.

Bring contact numbers for technical support.
Bring phone numbers, and bookmark Web sites, for companies from which you may need technical support or downloads during your trip. As with passwords, it might be best to write these down in an appointment book, or somewhere else that will always be with you, so you don't have to travel with countless slips of paper.

Check ahead for any unusual connector requirements.
There's a great graphic of the required international adapters on the Magellans web site; when traveling in the US, ask when making your reservations if you can plug into their phone system with a modem.

Write down any necessary passwords.
If you tend to save passwords instead of retyping them every time you log on to an online service, Web site, or software package, you'll need to either to load them or your computer or write them down somewhere.

Load up the carry-on bag.
Pack your phone cord and extra battery, in your carry-on computer case. Airports, and even airplane seats, now have phone jacks, and, in some cases, direct Internet connections, on pay phones. To have the connection, when the connectors are in the cargo area of the plane, can be a very frustrating experience.

Work, and/or recharge your battery, during layovers.
Most airport gates have an outlet nearby, if for nothing else than vacuuming the area. You can often plug in your computer to do work without running batteries down, or recharge your batteries for work during the next flight.

When you return, copy any important or changed files to your desktop computer.
When you make small changes to documents on the road, you can easily use an older version when you return without noticing it. If you immediately copy all of the new or altered files back onto your desktop, and perhaps even delete the files from your portable after the transfer, you can eliminate confusion and version conflicts later on.