Five things to do before leaving for vacation

#1 Macworld

Story Poster

Group: MW Bot
Posts: 31,666
Joined: 30-November 07

Posted 24 June 2010 - 05:01 AM

Post your comments for Five things to do before leaving for vacation here

#2 jamus

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 242
Joined: 14-December 07

Posted 24 June 2010 - 05:48 AM

I would also add, that if you are leaving your notebook at home, be sure to do a proper shutdown and do not leave it sleeping or it can do odd things with the power manager if it runs out of battery while in sleep for that long.

#3 nathanator11

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 69
Joined: 01-July 08

Posted 24 June 2010 - 05:50 AM

This is only vaguely related, but I got a little power inverter so that I can use the car's cigarette lighter plugs to charge my gadgets. This one works for up to 80 watts continuous use, but there are more powerful ones. This has an AC port and a USB port. I use it with a tiny little surge protector just in case. $27.50, Amazon.com.
Eliminates a fair amount of anxiety over charging things.

Duracell Pocket Power Inverter 100
http://bit.ly/bWmicM
http://amzn.to/cyjVxU

#4 AlexandreKapellos

Newbie

Group: Members
Posts: 7
Joined: 12-April 10

Posted 24 June 2010 - 05:57 AM

it's a "holiday" so… turn everything off, shut down remote access, leave those usb flash drives at home and go on a… holiday. forget about these things/objets/gadgets/tools that populate our every day lives 11 months a year.

…and what's this: "be sure to leave it turned on when you leave"? you must be joking!

…or we have a different definition of "vacation"…

;-)

#5 danmusician

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 353
Joined: 11-August 05

Posted 24 June 2010 - 06:09 AM

AlexandreKapellos, on 24 June 2010 - 05:57 AM, said:

My thoughts exactly. What's the point of getting away from it all if you take it all with you?

#6 hayesk

Veteran

Group: Members
Posts: 1,791
Joined: 07-August 04

Posted 24 June 2010 - 06:17 AM

I wouldn't change my home voice mail to say I'm away. That just advertises that my house is empty and available for robbing.

-1

#7 Charles Soto

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 55
Joined: 07-January 08

Posted 24 June 2010 - 06:53 AM

You forgot "encrypt all your pr0n." Say your plane crashes on a mysterious island in the Pacific. It would be awkward if someone discovered your stash...

#8 C

Newbie

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: 08-April 10

Posted 24 June 2010 - 07:23 AM

I have not dared set an out of office message since a few years back when I logged into my email at an internet cafe on the beach and found 48,000 bounced emails from a no reply address which had sent me an email and then got into a loop with me.

Clearing that lot out took the edge of things!

#9 JoeKissell

Member

Group: Macworld Insiders
Posts: 136
Joined: 21-January 06

Posted 24 June 2010 - 07:58 AM

AlexandreKapellos, on 24 June 2010 - 05:57 AM, said:

I'm sure there are some jobs in which one can leave for days or weeks without even checking in once, and it's never a problem. But for most of us these days, as much as we might wish for such a situation, it just isn't so. Things can and do go wrong at work while you're away, and I find that it's better to be able to solve a problem during my vacation than to return to work and discover that it's turned into a severe crisis.

Joe

#10 JoeKissell

Member

Group: Macworld Insiders
Posts: 136
Joined: 21-January 06

Posted 24 June 2010 - 08:00 AM

hayesk, on 24 June 2010 - 06:17 AM, said:

I wouldn't change my home voice mail to say I'm away. That just advertises that my house is empty and available for robbing.

In this article, I'm referring to tasks relating to your job, not your personal life!

Joe

#11 Scott76

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 30
Joined: 12-December 07

Posted 24 June 2010 - 09:36 AM

JoeKissell, on 24 June 2010 - 08:00 AM, said:

hayesk, on 24 June 2010 - 06:17 AM, said:

I wouldn't change my home voice mail to say I'm away. That just advertises that my house is empty and available for robbing.

In this article, I'm referring to tasks relating to your job, not your personal life!

Joe

Then it is saying, "Hi... I'm away but here's someone else you may not know about that you can start to gather intelligence on and consider doing bad things to." Get enough of these and you can map the company looking for the easier mark!

-1

#12 cweber

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 196
Joined: 10-November 06

Posted 24 June 2010 - 09:39 AM

The advice about writing down your passwords is really unsafe. Writing down passwords is the single biggest security issue, bar none. Use one of the password manager tools or simply put them into an encrypted file. Or just don't bother and leave home without all the tech stuff, as others have suggested. Contrary to what Joe states right above, life at work can and will go on without you.

#13 sharpy

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 40
Joined: 23-March 08

Posted 27 June 2010 - 04:25 PM

I had a good chuckle when I read, "Please direct any urgent inquiries to Maya Sistant." Joe, that's gold.

—Sharpy

#14 billdavisone

Newbie

Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: 24-December 08

Posted 29 June 2010 - 08:15 AM

The one thing I was hoping to find in this article was if there is anything you can do to insure that your computer at home doesn't get it's internet connection dropped. It doesn't do any good to have MobilMe if your home computer is dropped by your ISP.