Lapping it up

Traveling businesspeople, telecommuters, part-time workers and many others know the myriad of frustrations that come from using laptop computers. This newsletter aims to ease that pain just a bit with tools designed to help you skirt some of the more common pitfalls in portable computing.

* Fight the power

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Battery Bar is a small program that tells you exactly how long your laptop battery will last. It uses a time-prediction algorithm and displays the current percentage of battery power in reserve. The developers claim the software is intelligent and that " the more you use Battery Bar, the more accurate it gets. " Battery Bar displays status icons that tell you if the battery is on AC, charging, on battery power or if it's low. You also can set a battery power level that when reached, automatically shuts down your laptop. Battery Bar is written in 100% C++ and works with Windows 95, 98, ME and 2000, but does not support NT 4.0. This download is a 30-day free trial. You can purchase or register Battery Bar for $10. The registered version has free unlimited e-mail technical support. Check your battery levels at www.nistech.com/download.html

* Laptop tracker

Described as a " virtual LoJack for laptops, " zTrace Basic is a small program that uses the Internet to identify the location of a stolen laptop. Once you know where it is, you can deliver the location to law enforcement officials, who can (it is hoped) return the stolen computer to you. The heart of the software is the zAgent, which is invisible and intelligent software hidden on your hard drive. In the case of loss or theft, zAgent will activate its tracking capabilities and enable the zTrace recovery officers to trace its location. zTrace Basic does not include recovery services, which are included with zTrace Gold. Users may upgrade from the basic version to the gold version before/after a theft has occurred and get their laptops back. zTrace Basic is free for download and zTrace Gold is free for three months, after which it costs $49.95 per year. See which suits you best at www.ztrace.com/get.asp#

* Keep it covered

Virtual Touchpad Cover is a small utility that eliminates the annoyance of accidentally moving your mouse and cursor. The utility installs a hotkey on your laptop that disables the mouse for the time you'd like to move your hands freely. When you need the mouse again, simply depress the hotkey. The developer offers a free evaluation copy, but charges $2 to register the software. Virtual Touchpad Cover works with Windows 95, 98 and NT. Cover it up at tygi.cjb.net/

Denise Dubie is a Staff Writer covering network management at Network World. She also works as a freelance writer in the Boston area. You can reach her at ddubie@nww.com.