The best way to protect against this is to encrypt your files. Even after you've made it so a thief can't log in to your laptop, they can simply attach your disk to another machine to get access to all the information in your files. Not to mention any slip-ups where your credit card numbers or passwords might be listed in one of your files.
Think of all the spreadsheets, memos, faxes, and emails you have stashed on your laptop's hard drive. While setting a strong password and locking your machine will protect your password cache and help stop a casual thief, it doesn't actually protect your documents. For Windows you can do this by tweaking the power management settings to require a password on wakeup and also setting a pasword-protected screensaver for when the machine is idle. Ensuring that your password is actually effective if a thief gets your computer is the next step. You have to set your laptop to lock or sleep when you step away or close the lid in order for your password to be of any help at all if your computer is stolen while you are logged in. Having a password on your computer account is a good first step, but only offers minimal protection.
Unfortunately, it is a lot trickier than most people realize to protect your personal information when you use your computer on the road.
With the wide acceptance of credit cards, that inconvenience is mostly gone - replaced, due to the rise of cybercrime and identity theft, with the need to secure your data when traveling. Travel security used to mean stashing your cash in a money belt.
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