If one has administrator privileges, one can:

powernowd will work with Intel's "SpeedStep" technology as well. The name is misleading. The daemon should work with most processor that support different speeds.

In Japan, even if the ATM is part of the Star or Plus network, the Japanese ATM will not work with non-Japanese cards. The only exception I've found is Citibank in Japan. Citibank ATM also offer all English menus and telephone support in English.

When I am on a untrusted network, I use TOR (The Onion Routing, http://tor.eff.org) as a proxy service. Set up your OS to route all your traffic through it to enjoy the built in encryption and hiding what you are trying to connect to.