You may prefer to use the automated facilities of Windows Briefcase
or Synchronization Manager to automatically copy revised or newly
created files from the laptop to your desk or the other way around.
Personally, I prefer to manually manage the update in one direction or
the other. At the start of each trip I create a new folder on the desktop
with the travel dates and I take care to use the Save As feature of my
word processor, image editor, and other programs to make sure that
new work is stored in that easily locatable folder. The Synchronization
Settings screen is shown in Figure 2-2.
After uploading any work completed on the road, I manually instruct
Norton SystemWorks to check for any anomalies with the Windows
Registry, shortcuts, and other problems with file structures and indexes;
because a laptop is often used intermittently, setting a utility to automat-
ically run every Friday at 5:00 p.m. may not be the best practice--you
may not have the machine on at that time or you may be using your
battery on the road for work at that time. If I’ve been using the Internet
while traveling or have connected in any way with an office network or
loaded a file from a floppy disk or a CD or DVD, I run a full antivirus scan
(which can take an hour or two) followed by an adware/spyware scan. If
I haven’t connected to another system in any way, I skip the scans.Other housekeeping tasks keep your laptop healthy, rapid, and wise:Empty the Recycle Bin once a week (or more often if you find that your
disk is becoming fragmented too often).Unless you have a reason to keep this sort of information around, clear
the Web browser history and any temporary Internet files.Figure 2-2:
The settings
screen of the
Windows
Synchro-
nization
Manager
allows users
to choose
items to
harmonize at
log on, log
off, when the
machine is
idle, or on a
particular
schedule.22 Part I: Putting a Computer in Your Lap