Security when browsing the internet using laptop abroad

[Deleted User]

The two aspects you need to address are to protect your computer and to protect your data.

I assume you mean you are using Windows 7, which is good because it makes protecting your computer somewhat easier by allowing you select the type of network you are connecting to. You should make sure that you select 'Public Network', as this will disable a number of services including those concerned with sharing your files and folders over a network. Enabling Windows Firewall will ensure that you have the greatest amount of protection provided by the Operating System itself.

You should also ensure that you have the latest updates installed through Windows Update and that you use a reputable Anti-Virus programme such as Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast or Avira that is updated regularly. A secondary scanner specifically for identifying Malware such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware should also be used in conjunction.

Protecting your data is where things get more complicated. You need to accept that a proportion of your activity will be visible to those inclined to discover such things, however for browsing news sites and other ones where there is no exchange of personal information that should not be a concern.

Banking and financial websites utilise additional protection to prevent the transmission of personal information being easily discovered, however those who are motivated to see it potentially could do given the correct tools and time. You should ensure that where possible you utilise websites with https:// to ensure you are using the highest levels of protection available. Sites, such as this, do not use this therefore your log-in details could potentially be compromised and a number of email services do not have this enabled by default.

You should ensure that you do not use the same passwords for multiple sites, this is a general security recommendation and isn't specific to this particular situation.

InsideInsurance

Ultimately nothing online is 100% secure. You can do everything you want to protect something but if there is a way of logging in/ connecting etc there will be a way for someone else to do so. If we all wanted the safest way to bank we would all be sleeping on mattresses full of money (or in my case a few coins) but then there's the risk of fire.

Now the question is really how much of a risk are you facing -v- the amount of benefit you will be getting for the convenience. What do you care about if people seeing/ accessing and what do you not really care about people seeing/ having access to?

For the majority of people that dont wear tin foil hats to stop the men in black from reading their brain waves ensuring you use a https website should be sufficient protection even when using a public wifi connection. Using a wired connection is preferable but by no means makes it 100% secure