There’s nothing like the loss of expensive electronics or irreplaceable family photos to ruin your day. Charging cords are forgotten in hotel rooms. Slick thieves target distracted tourists who turn their backs for just a minute. Devices receive accidental baptisms in water or sit too long in the hot sun, whatever the reasons, this always leave a sad cloud in our hearts. The following tips will help you protect your electronics from any harm.
1. Keep Them Close Wherever You Go.
Keeping your items close or placing your bag on the front especially on crowded areas already deters robbery since they can see you’re on guard for your items. If you feel you can’t keep an eye on your item at a certain place, using a spare gadget such as a lower-end device can give you peace of mind.
2. Choose Anti-Theft Bags.
Especially when you’re travelling, learning how to pack your gadgets safely is key. There are lots of anti-theft bags for cameras and laptops to choose from these days. It’s an additional purchase, but think about it as your means of safe-keeping your investments even when you’re on-the-go.
3. Provide Shade.
When you’re outdoors, your next enemy is extreme heat or moisture. Rise up against nature by making sure you keep your gadgets it in a well-ventilated area or in a light and dry pouch. Remember, protect your gadgets against heat exposure, water damage, and even getting moist during cool nights.
4. Get It A Tough Case.
A tough casing can prevent you from losing your gadget’s worth. There are dust-proof, shock-proof, and water-resistant cases available for almost every gadget in the market. A smudge-proof or fingerprint-proof screen protector will keep your gadget looking fresh from the box even after days with heavy activity.
5. Download A Locator App.
Have you ever wondered where you last left your phone or tablet inside the house? A locator app can help you find your gadget even beyond your four walls. Downloading a locator app and syncing it with other devices and keeping an IMEI or list of serial numbers of your gadget in your email will not prevent it from getting stolen but it will help you locate your gadgets in the event you lose them.
6. Have A Back-Up.
One virus is all it takes to wipe out your flash drive, hard drive, or external hard drive. To avoid this, choose using online cloud storage apps such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive and Box. If you really feel like backing up on a drive, make sure you don’t connect or transfer files with other gadgets that are unsecured.
7. Create Strong Passwords.
Basic passwords for your gadgets can be unlocked with a simple program using brute force on your lock. Although strong passwords with combinations of capitalization, number, and symbols are hard to remember for most of us, it is easily a step to safety from getting your the accounts and data in any of your gadget from being stolen.
8. Keep Your Software Up-To-Date.
The software update you’ve been delaying and ignoring for sometime has a purpose after all. A part of it fixes security vulnerabilities and software bugs that could have been tapped by hackers and phishing. Make sure to keep the automatically check for updates ticked and check your gadget’s software updates from time to time to make sure you’re not missing out on any gadget security improvements.
9. Pack Only What You Need.
Consider whether you actually need to place so many gadgets at risk. One smartphone can take pictures and videos, provide GPS directions, surf the Internet and do many other useful things on a trip, leave any extra stuff at home.
10. Be Vigilant.
Don’t pay cab drivers until you’ve double-checked the back seat and retrieved your luggage. Assign someone to scour the hotel room before you check out. And of course, never leave gear unattended.
