I read this article over at Speaking Freely, which talks about stuff you should do when you don't have an internet connection. A lot of the tasks, such as running spy ware software, and organizing your bookmarks, are tasks that we often put off, because we could be doing more entertaining things like checking our email, Google reader, etc. Well when you have no internet, (and thus no distractions), it is the perfect time to preform these tasks. This article really applies well to laptops. While desktop users will rarely be disconnected from the internet, laptop users frequently have no WiFi signal. Unfortunately, number 3 doesn't really apply, since you can't easily take apart your laptop. Also, you may find a significant drain in battery while running CPU-intensive tasks such as virus scans. Tip #6 is especially important, for both desktop and laptop users. Most people don't realize it until they think about it, but a lot of one's identity is now contained on the web. Email accounts, web profiles, and financial accounts such as PayPal hold a lot of valuable information. If something unfortunate happens to you, a responsible party should have a list of all your passwords and account information. There have been multiple cases where families have been denied access to deceases family member's email accounts because of privacy laws. Thus, it is important to write down and file all of the information like this.