Connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots can be very risky.  You never know how the connection is made.  Your personal information and even files on your laptop can all be at risk by smart prying eyes.  Lifehacker.com has an article that mentions some good protection that everyone should use everytime when connecting via a hotspot.

HotSpot Shield by AnchorFree

HotSpot Shield is a free (aka ad supported) Public VPN client and service that is a good fit for most surfers.   Everytime you connect to a public hotspot, you should immediatley launch the VPN client to make a secure connection:

"Hotspot Shield is a free VPN
service that secures and encrypts your network traffic regardless of
where you're located. As long as you have Internet access, you can use
Hotspot Shield to encrypt your network session, keeping your packets
protected while they fly through the air, even if there's someone on
the network actively sniffing your network." -- AppScout.com

Indentity theft, document stealing and other mischief are only getting worse as more and more devices connect via Wi-Fi and more hotspots are popping up.  Take action to protect yourself.