How to protect my Ubuntu PC in a non-secure wifi NW?

[Peter Garrett]

On Tue, Sep 04, 2007 at 12:20:06AM -0400, Matthew Flaschen wrote:
> Peter Garrett wrote:
> > For instance, I can check my mail from a cafe by connecting through my home computer via ssh, either using 
> > gui apps like sylpheed or evolution, firefox etc, or from the commandline. The data is encrypted end-to-end.
> 
> How does this add security?  Presumably, you're connecting from your
> home computer to the mailbox via a secure protocol.  So why not just
> connect directly?  This should be secure even over unsecured wireless.
> 
True.

I also use it for other things though - for instance I can use 
sshfs to browse my files remotely, or browse the web via the tunnel.

Mostly this is an unnecessary level of paranoia though :-)

Peter