Upgrade column: Airport laptop etiquette

We've all been there - sitting in the airport lounge, laptop online, apps launched - when we receive the call of nature. Tony Hallett debates the options for the cautious traveller.

I'm quite paranoid about my possessions at an airport and in public places in general. Stories of people I know being mugged on a Friday evening visit to the pub or while snoozing at a Moscow airport make me worried.

But when you are doing some work at an airport, hopefully comfortably logged on to the internet over wi-fi, 3G or a good old Ethernet cable, there is only so much you can plan for.

Like many people reading this, I buy things like food and a newspaper in advance and then look for a quiet corner in a terminal concourse (show me the power points!) or a lounge.

But, given enough minutes sat waiting, there's one thing you can't put off - the call of nature.

Yes, when you have to visit the facilities, what do you do with that live laptop, sitting there handsomely online?

Having to log off of work VPNs and apps - often a tedious process - lose a connection, power down and then pack up - all for a three-minute dash to the gents - is a huge hassle.

But what's the alternative? If you're Mr Paranoia, leaving everything fired up - even password or fingerprint-locked - as a gift to a light-fingered fellow traveller isn't what I call an option. (And by 'fellow traveller', I don't mean in the 1950s, Red Menace communist sense.)

So what to do? I don't profess to have the answer that works for everyone.

Some of us do literally pack everything up and know we'll only work in chunks of an hour or so.

Others ask someone nearby, preferably someone respectable-looking, to watch the device, just for a minute. But that can make some people feel more than uncomfortable. And how well do you really know that chap in the great suit or the person running the café?

Others suggest attaching your laptop to nearby furniture or something else that can't be moved. The theory is, if someone can't run off with your laptop then why would they mess with it?

But I still hate to think of someone being malicious - or just plain clumsy - as they walk by with a can of Coke. Though in this last case I note a recent article on silicon.com which talks about surging demand at lock supplier Kensington - often from people and companies who have already been the victim of a theft.

I don't know what the answer is but I'd love to hear other people's approaches. Drop an email to enquiries@atlarge.com if you have something to share.

Tony Hallett is the site director of atlarge.com. He is also the editor and site director of online business and technology publication silicon.com.