AKA "working virtual, or virtually working?"

My friend Griffin Caprio blogged about the virtues of being a virtual worker and finding wifi hotspots. I thought I'd chime in with a few tips of my own.

Insure your stuff

Make sure your computer equipment is covered. Many homeowner policies DON'T cover computers at all, or not if they're used for business. You may want to get a small umbrella business insurance policy to cover your equipment at home & on the road (think dropped laptop at the airport). Ask around for referrals, or pick a few insurance agents out of the phone book.

Host a Web Server

If you have a static IP address from your ISP, then you can configure DNS to point to a web server on your network, and host away. If you have a dynamic IP, however, then you need to use dynamic DNS to ensure that when your IP address changes, your DNS entry (www.yourcooldomain.com) points to the right IP. There are several providers. I've used DNSExit for years and it works well, but you can also check out No-IP, TZO, or DynDNS. Or others. Some routers come with built-in support for certain dynamic DNS providers, meaning a simple config change in your router is all that's needed to keep your DNS up to date.

Back up your stuff

What would you do if your computer crashed or your hard drive blew out? Would you lose any work? How long would it take you to recover? Backups are important for any IT professional, and I'd suggest an automated approach. You can go with a service like Mozy that runs on your PC and backs stuff up in the background. Or, if you have a place you can FTP files to (e.g. your ISP or an inexpensive host like e-rice or dreamhost) you can pick up a copy of WinZip 10 Pro which can regularly zip up & upload files via FTP. Remember to not only back up documents, but emails, code, and database dumps. Having an organized directory structure where your important files are makes it easier. Then, if disaster strikes, you'll be in a better position to recover. And the silver lining is maybe you'll now have a reason to get a shiny new PC.