Designers, I know some of you use laptop computers in your work as I do, and I just want to share this experience with you so you do not have to experience what happened to me and Mary Sugden last weekend... Mary was leading the CID+ Workshop and exam in San Marcos California, and I was attending it along with some other fine designers. We broke for lunch and were gone from the room for a very short time... only to return to the room to find that someone of low scruples decided that our laptop computers would make a great addition to their personal collections... Mary had to continue the workshop and test from her hand written notes... it was a very difficult experience. Mary was a real trouper and still did an excellent job of covering the material and we went on to take the exam on Saturday. The most painful realization occurs when you recall that you left your checkbook(s), and your personal information in your carrying case, and they now know where you live, what your home phone number and work number is, what your bank account numbers are, e-mail, stocks, you name it... etc... etc.. Not to mention the data that you have on your hard drive, that you have not backed up... Laptops are terribly portable... it takes only 30 seconds for someone to pass by and grab them and stash them for later retrieval. We looked high and low and searched the entire area for the thief(s)... and they had vanished. Mailing lists, passwords, lost reference information, jobs you may have been working on, etc... this can be a very sickening experience... The laptops can be expensive, mine was over 2,700 dollars (a Dell Inspiron 8200 with 64MB DDR ram, 40G hd, leather case, high end video, extra batteries... ugh...)and they are targets of thieves, who seem to watch and wait for you to make a mistake or get careless for an instant, even when you think your stuff is safe in the confines of a classroom environment... don't let your equipment out of your sight... And think about what you have on your computer... and what it would mean if someone managed to walk away with it. Please don't let this happen to you... Best regards, Bill Brooks - KG6VVP PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D.+, C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 http://www.dtwc.com http://pcbwizards.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To temporarily stop/(restart) delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL/(MAIL) Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------