Fast Forward's Help File

Q I'm taking my laptop on vacation. How can I keep the data on it safe in case the computer gets lost or stolen?

AAre you sure you need to bring the laptop? Lugging along six pounds of fragile electronics can suck the joy out of a journey.

But if you do elect to travel with a laptop, you should prepare for the possibility that it won't come home with you. Should that happen, you don't want some random crook reading your mail or browsing your bank accounts.

At a minimum, set a log-in password on the computer via the User Accounts control panel in Windows or the Accounts panel in Mac OS X's System Preferences.

But you'll do better to hide your data from outsiders with encryption software. If you run Windows, use the free, open-source TrueCrypt ( http://www.truecrypt.org) to lock your important files. If you run Mac OS X Panther or Tiger, the built-in File Vault feature can secure all your data and settings; to activate it, open System Preferences and select the Security category.

The best protection, however, is to minimize the data at risk in the first place. Verify that your Web browser and e-mail programs don't save account passwords for you, don't travel with your Quicken or Microsoft Money data, and make sure your Social Security number isn't stored in any files.

There's a security update for my browser's Flash player, but how can I tell if I have this fixed version?

Visit http://adobe.com/products/flash/about/ and see if the version number shown at the top of the page matches the one cited for your operating system in the table.

If it doesn't, click the "Player Download Center" link to get a new copy. (This browser plug-in has an auto-update mechanism, but by default it only looks for new versions every 30 days and, in my experience, has worked a bit erratically.)

Rob Pegoraro attempts to untangle computing conundrums and errant electronics each week. Send questions to The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 orrobp@washpost.com. Turn to Thursday's Business section or visit washingtonpost.com anytime for his Fast Forward column.