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I lost two
laptops within six months, what a bad luck!!! I guess I didn't pay much attention to the news about laptop protection technics or how to protect your laptop from thieves.
How my first laptop was stolen
I was living in a student hostel, so there was an emergency alarm that no one really figured out why the alarm, so I rushed out of my room to check out what's going on, along the way I decided to go to the rest room ( toilet ) to urinate, but I forgot that I didn't lock the door of my room but only shut it. The thieve got into my room, stole my stuffs including my 2 months old HP laptop and that was the beginning.
How my second laptop was stolen
A friend invited me to his birthday party that lasted about 4 hours. My door was properly locked with the key, my windows properly locked as well, but the problem was that I was living on the ground floor which equals anybody can break into my room through the window.The thieve broke into my room through the glass window by throwing a big stone, took my Lenovo laptop and few other stuffs, and jumped out through the same broken window.
Regrets
I lost my laptops. I lost my data and information. I lost money. I lost grades from tests. I lost friends and family contacts. I lost......:((
How to protect your laptop from thieves
I didn't Set a system/BIOS password: Your computers BIOS is the first program that is run when your computer starts. You can tell the BIOS to ask for a password when it starts, thus restricting access to your computer. Follow this link to learn more about setting a system password
http://www.lockdown.co.uk/?pg=biospsw . I didn't Set a user/admin password: Setting a user or admin password confirms only the person that knows the password can login, need to learn how to do this?. Follow this link to learn more about setting a user or admin password
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000767.htm . I didn't backup my data and information to an external drive or server: An external storage memory like Pen drive or Hard drive could do better. I didn't install any tracing programs: Tracing programs include zTrace (http://www.ztrace.com/), CyberAngel and ComputracePlus (http://www.absolute.com/). I didn't install any anti-theft software: Install anti-theft software like
Undercover (for Mac) and
LoJack (for PC). I didn't install any GPS system software: Computrace LoJack for Laptops silently dials in to a Monitoring Center when connected to the Internet. If your laptop gets stolen it sends a high-alert signal every 15 minutes to a recovery team who tracks your laptop location. I didn't secure them with laptop security cable: good option could be
Kensington's MicroSaver Alarmed Lock . I didn't install any Alerting software:
Filsaver PC-Card from Kukuyo lets out 110 decibels of ear-piercing noise through your computers speakers if moved. If you have a MAC: get the
iAlert You. Am I missing something here?.
I had no computer for about three months after the loss and I can tell you what it felt like to live without a computer, and also from student perspective the
importance of computer. Please do not hesitate to share your experience or few more tips on how to secure our laptops from the bad Guys.
No more failure for students.
Comment Closed!
2 Responses to “How to protect your laptop from thieves”
Andrew Says:
July 7, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I have to disagree on a few things. Setting up BIOS password doesn’t protect you against theft at all. If you have physical access to a machine you can always reset CMOS memory and your password will be gone.
Secondly, setting up an admin password has nothing to do with protection against theft. Your data are easily accessible even with a password set and moreover a thief usually is not interested in it. But still it is a great idea to do so because of other issues.
Regarding all the tracing software, good idea, but I’m afraid that it’s poorly supported in Poland. My advice is very simple – draw the curtains on your window, if a thief can see what you have got, you’re making his job easier, seriously :].
Dayo Says:
July 7, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Andrew Thanks for the comment and you are right about the BIOS and the Admin password but you know it helps a bit against lame thieves, and with time the tracing software should be supported in Poland, don’t worry.
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