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Public Wi-Fi and the work laptop
What a small-business laptop should and should not do on cafe and airport Wi-Fi.
Public Wi-Fi is fine for a map and a bad idea for payroll. You cannot see who else is on the network, and you cannot be sure the network name belongs to the cafe.
If the work can wait, wait until you are on the office network or the phone’s own connection. If it cannot wait, use a VPN the business provides, or the phone as a hotspot. Do not install a random VPN because a pop-up offered one. That is a second problem wearing a helpful hat.
Confirm the network name with the venue. Names that add the word free, or that look one letter off, are a common trick. Forget the network when you leave so the laptop does not rejoin it next month.
A privacy filter, or a seat with your back to a wall, matters as much as the network. Someone reading a wire transfer over your shoulder does not need to hack the router.
The laptop still needs a lock screen and current updates. Public Wi-Fi is not the only way a trip goes wrong. A laptop left in a car is the simpler one.