Windows 7: Does Wi-Fi make your laptop more vulnerable to thieves?

It was a startling claim: Like a virtual trail of cookie crumbs, your laptop could be beaming out invisible signals that are attracting intrepid thieves armed with a common $5 gadget.

This alarming scenario comes by way of a press release from security vendor Credant Technologies.

Citing a news report from Jamaica, Credant's vice president of marketing, Sean Glynn, notes that "low-cost key fob Wi-Fi detectors for under a fiver, and quite sophisticated directional detectors for around the 30 pounds mark ... [and could be] used by thieves to detect the presence of an out of sight laptop."

That's because newer laptops have a set time -- sometimes up to 30 minutes -- before they go into sleep mode when the laptop's lid is closed, Glynn asserts.

He said that window of opportunity aids thieves prowling offices or shopping mall parking lots looking for corporate laptops to steal immediately after work.