My assignment here is to examine the practical aspects of business technology that you can deploy and use to save money and time. Most of what I will write about here will have a networking or communications focus, but occasionally I will look at other technologies that I think are worthwhile. My goal is to recommend things that don't require a degree in computer science or engineering to deploy, and that work with a minimum of support resources too. Given the current state of our economy, I will also keep a keen eye on the costs too and will give you choices on free stuff or things that don't have huge price tags and can deliver quick returns on your investment.

My focus will be on small and medium business owners who don't have any or many official IT staff. So it helps that I have run my own small business for the past two decades and understand that environment all too well.

So enough about me. Let's get started and talk about how you can protect your laptop when you travel...

I have had my laptop stolen once, about four years ago, from the trunk of a locked car parked at a shopping mall. You never forget that experience of being violated, of being stupid.

So what can you do to be more proactive, given the number of laptops that go missing every month? Take a look at for some basic tips. One of the most effect protections mentioned in that story is the growing number of recovery software tools that automatically "phone home" (in the Internet sense of the word) and help you and the authorities, should they be interested, in trying to track it down. While it sounds like a great idea, there are several issues that you need to be aware of before relying on these services.