Has anyone ever used such a product? Its suppose to help trace your stolen lap top. My daughter is in 9th grade and just got a laptop she needs to take back and forth to school so I'm looking for any kind of safeguard against theft.
2006-08-21 05:14:51 · 6 answers · asked by yp_veronica_chicago 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
This technology depends on the stolen laptop being connected to the internet while the software is still active, so that is can be tracked back. So I guess you would have some chance of recovery from a "stupid" thief. I would think theft insurance would be a more beneficial protection.
2006-08-21 05:34:30 · answer #1 · answered by Interested Dude 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's kinda pointless if the thieves format the hard drive. The Lo Jack techiques used right now are all software based. If there was a piece of hardware that couldn't be removed that snitched on the location, then I would say sure.
Otherwise just make sure the laptop is covered under the home insurance against theft. Or if she's in dorms or an apartment, rental insurance should cover it.
At the end of the day though, the laptop is kind of worthless. It's the data. All of that work your daughter is doing on the laptop. Make sure she understands a daily backup saves the biggest amount of grief. CD, DVD, Floppy, Online or Thumb drive, doesn't matter. Pick something that she is comfortable using to back up her work, because if she's comfortable with it then it's going to get used.
Most of my customers end up going with either 1) the thumb drive(aka USB Stick, aka Memory Stick) because they can port them around really easily/lots of room to store stuff and 2) the online backup solutions (famster.com, xdrive.com, etc.) because of the flexibility.
A laptop is just a thing that can be replaced, if she loses her term paper or her pictures from school or music (or whatever) that's gone forever. It should also be said that; regardless of a stolen laptop or a crashed harddrive, backups are a basic requirement to avoid the costly fees around recovery and lost work. That fact is true of all systems; Mac, Windows, VMS, Linux, Solaris because stuff happens.
I'll give an example. Customer of mine harddrive crashed, he had about 11000 pictures in there. No backups. All that time spend at weddings, 70th wedding anniverseries, births, bris'es, parties, birthdays for ten years. Not one backup.
It took me around 70 hours to recover about 80% of the material and because it is incredibly painful recovering data from a physical crash, it cost him about 5k in my time. Some background, he was doing the stupidest thing in the universe against my advice as his technician for five years.
Everytime he bought a new system he'd just copy over the files to the new system assuming the new system would just "go". But that's not true of anything mechanical or electronic. If it's going to break, it'll do it in the first thirty days. Anyhoo, he copied all of his files to the new system and the hard drive made a really "evil noise". Not one backup was made in ten years.
Backup your stuff. Sorry kinda ranting here...it's sore spot.
2006-08-21 05:44:44 · answer #2 · answered by SpankyTClown 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
UPDATE @ 12:33: http://www.securetrieve.com/ cheap and easy to use, there is even a free trial! I'm think I'm going to order this!.
Hi,
I reccommend HIGHLY to use a laptop case armed with a lock and that she has her computer on SAFEGAURD. This means she should have a usrename and password only she knows, and you optionally just in case she forgets it.
I know your thinking, what if they take the case and everything? Try this http://www.absolute.com/ it can track down your computer. Also if you are willing to pay the money, what I use it a GPS finder. It's usually meant for finding kids that go missing. Sometimes it s chip and sometimes it's a bracelet. It works, and more they cost the more precise they are to find, right down to the location the "chip" is in.
I hope this does help, please contact me at justinbeaudoin@gmail.com for continued help. Check out this site as well: http://www.stolenlaptop.com/
2006-08-21 05:30:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
There are such things, anytime the person logs on to the internet it can track the IP address, but for the life of me I don't know what it's called. Go to a computer store.
2006-08-21 05:21:05 · answer #4 · answered by thedavecorp 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I have never used this, but i heard it works.
2006-08-21 05:21:16 · answer #5 · answered by Eric D 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Don't bother; just get insurance on it.
2006-08-21 05:22:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋