If you can't leave work behind during the holidays, use extra caution in your travels.

1. At airport screening, send your laptop through security last, after all your other bags and shoes. It won't be lingering down at the end of the conveyor belt when you get waved through.

2. Make a good backup on a USB drive, but do not pack the USB drive in the same case as the laptop. Keep it in your pocket or in another bag.

3. Go to Windows Control Panel / Users and set a boot-up password so no one can access your computer.

4. Never leave a laptop visible in a parked car, or put it in the trunk and walk away. Move it to the trunk before you park.

5. Keep a list of people to notify if your computer is stolen, including your email service provider. Phone them first to change the account password so no one can access your email account. Then call your credit card companies.

Need a gift for the person who's always seeking wi-fi? Well, there's a wi-fi finder t-shirt which is sure to please.

Other practical tech gifts include a USB thumb drive, external portable backup drive, digital camera card, or cordless mouse. Oh, and then there's the iPod, iPhone, iAnything...

I've put together a list of other cool gift ideas here for writers, office workers, and teens:

If your tech skills are really good and you want to have some fun, here's a way to customize the sound your computer makes when you receive an email. You can create a unique sound to distinguish messages from important senders, so you'll know if you should stop what you're doing when you hear the familiar message tone. Ideally, you'd just do a special tone for really important mail, but if you have extra time, you can have fun customizing a tone for all senders. This tip comes from the reputable Life Hacker site:

1. See how your zip code ranks. Many of you told me you liked Zillow, to check real estate prices. Now you can use ZipSkinny to get the skinny on your local demographics.

2. And, just how walkable is your neighborhood? Use WalkScore to find out: http://walkscore.com/.

3. If you want to save or print web page articles, but the text is all broken up in segments surrounded by ads, click Print or Printer Friendly. On most sites, it will format the text as one long page easy to read online.

4. This could be more than you want to know about music but worth a look: http://www.mutopiaproject.org/browse.html.

5. Keep up with news: Check out Google News Archives, at http://news.google.com/archivesearch?tab=wn. It's an easy way to browse past copies of newspapers, journals and news magazines. In addition, Wikipedia has compiled a huge list of online newspaper archives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_newspaper_archives

And, if you need a gift for a computer user or a writer, don't forget you can purchase my books "Computer Ease," and the new book "Release Your Writing: Book Publishing Your Way." They are available at independent book stores and online retailers.

Remember, you can shop online and still support local retailers. Use their web site, order online, pick up in store, and keep tax dollars in your own community, supporting the businesses that support your town.

Remember, nowadays a picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory. (Thanks to MOC).

This newsletter takes up almost no space in the universe. Forward it to a friend, and check the online archive for back issues any time.

Happy Holidays, Helen Gallagher Phone: 847-998-6240, www.cclarity.com

Feel free to forward this issue of Computer Clarity's monthly e-newsletter to your friends, or invite them to subscribe at www.cclarity.com. There's no charge.

And visit my blog at cclarity.blogspot.com for interesting updates during the month, including a daily software giveaway.