Help with using WiFi and its security

Hello Everyone, I have a question. I have been meeting a group of classmate at local Coffee Beans and sometimes at library to work on our project. Sometime internet connection is required to do a little reading on articles and …… We have been connecting to public WiFi at coffee bean and I hear others around us can login to your laptop and do what ever they want. I want to know what do I need to do or I can do to secure my laptop from others. Please help if you can. Thank you in advance.
Answer #1
firewall.
Answer #2
firewall.
only needed if the access point owner doesn’t isolate the clients (99.99% of the time)
Answer #3
well he was asking lol.
it’s unlikely somebody will be there with the ability to access your pc
Answer #4
Thank you for your replies and your help.