Do you use Hotel Wi-Fi?

You can protect your self with a good anti-virus and anti malware program for obvious reasons.

First and foremost get a VPN, they're relatively inexpensive. Heck you can buy your own wifi hotspots. This tunnel is secured against anyone who may try to intercept your Web session while connected to a public hotspot: hackers, snoopers, bots and the like. Be forewarned, Web surfing and file downloading may be a little slower using VPN.

In order of preference, choose networks secured with WPA2 encryption, then WPA. WEP is a better-than-nothing last resort.

In Windows, hide folders that contain sensitive data—it's easy to do: just right-click on the folder and select "Properties" and then under the "General" tab, set the folder's attributes to "Hidden." You will still be able to see the folder, although the folder icon will appear transparent. Then go into Windows Explorer. Click on the "Organize" button and then select "Folder and Search Options" to launch Folder Options. Click on the "View" tab and then select "Don't show hidden files, folders and drives." This is of course, not the strongest of security defenses, but it's a way to make it that much harder for intruders to readily see find sensitive data.

Also consider encryption. Cepherix LE for example will create a virtual drive with 128-bit encryption on your hard drive that can hold up to 25GB.

Websites and browsers are forever asking if you want to save and store passwords. A general rule of thumb: you're probably better off not storing your username and password anywhere, especially when it comes to banking sites and the like.

Many websites use HTTPS and SSL to make your connection to them more secure-both are protocols that provide encrypted communications. For example, you can access Gmail via http://www.gmail.com or https://www.gmail.com. The latter is a more secure option.

If possible, remove sensitive data like spreadsheets, bank files, or documents with a social security number from your laptop you travel. Leave them on your home machine. If it's must access that data, consider storing it on a NAS device(network-attached storage ) that you can access from the road. That way you can get to your data but not have it reside on a machine that you connect to public hotspots.

You should have a firewall enabled whether you are home or on the road, but it's especially wise to turn it on when connecting to public hotspots.

Windows Updates are an annoying yet necessary evil. OS X updates less frequently, but updates can also be critical for Apple too, so don't be lulled into a false sense of security because you're a Mac user. OS updates are serious business; they often fix serious security holes.

One key thing about Windows updates, don't let Windows update update your drivers for audio, network, graphics. Go to the vendor/manufacturer to get the latest update. Windows has a tendency to nerf them (nerf is tech jargon for "screw up")

Disable file printer sharing in:

Windows 8: Go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > View network status and Tasks > Change advanced sharing settings > Turn off file and printer sharing > Save changes.

Windows 7: Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings > Home or Work > Turn off file and printer sharing > Save changes.

Mac OS X: Go to System Preferences > Sharing and be sure that File Sharing doesn't have a check mark by it.

If I travel, its with a linux based OS laptop.

Hotel WIFI is dangerous to use. I never just on a networks like that. I rooted my phone so I can tether off that. Luckily Window 8 has a default setting where doesn't share. I am a bit of a techy and got bored one day. I will say I didn't manage to see the content on other computers in the Hotel that was staying at. I was just shocked how it is not taking seriously. If I was a black hat I could have done some damage. Plus, they are a rip off.

I bring my own. For places I can't bring my own, I VPN back to my own network.