stolen laptop. devastated

[lister]

I use my laptop for everything especially for work. I put an unbelievable amount of work into tweaking and modifying the hardware like buying new ram and an SAD drive accessories etc. Someone crept into my apartment and stole it. The really sad thing is that the machine is not really worth very much. At best $300. It has scratches and marks but I using mind those. Its sad because its been everywhere with me. For someone to take your main posessession away like that especially your work tool is a sad day.

Fortunately I had made an ISO image of my machine about 3 weeks ago.

Moral of the story some people are bad and so unbelievably selfish. And back up your data! You have been warned!

Also my machine had all my passwords on there BUT they were encrypted in a code only I understand. So again that might be another tip!

Apologies if mistyped I am writing this on my phone. Regards lister

 

[DustSailor]

They do have tracking devices now-a-days

But sorry to hear about your loss. Hope you can find a relatively cheap one that wont set you back too much. Too many jerks out there on the loose

 

[Gator]

You should always have a program like Prey - Open Source or Absolute LoJack on your laptop.

I am very sorry that your laptop got stolen though, it must feel like you just got punched in the stomach.

 

[lister]

Thanks. Yeah feels really bad. I mean the thief will get $300 max for my machine but the distress and inconvenience to me is huge.

I guess we live and learn. Next machine will be much more secure and better guarded.

Still, I feel sorry for the thief. To stoop to such a low level. Anyways got to move on. Just wanted to share the above with you guys because you have all been so helpful in the past.-

 

[torre]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Keep following up with the police. You may also want to check local pawn shops, etc for your laptop.

Off-subject, but may I ask what time of day the burglary occurred ? I live in an apartment and would like to say apts generally may be less subject to burglaries ?

 

[DustSailor]

Thanks for the thought, reminds us to keep our stuff locked up tight, cause you know we sometimes forget to.

 

[lister]

I live in an apartment block and my side door was closed but not locked. Someone came in when I was asleep. Bad experience but cod have been worse.

 

[gregrocker]

What program did you use to make the backup image? ISO is an unusual format.

We can help you reimage and optimize your new computer so that it's much better than a new computer and maybe even the old one.

If you don't use the laptop for heavy tasks like video editing, there are great new deals every Sunday at Best Buy, Staples and Office Depot for solid laptops in the $350 range for dual-core, 3-4gb RAM, 500gb HD, and another $50-100 for Core Ix. I could do multi-tasking with a dozen windows open on one of these and make it last ten years running as fast as any $1500+ Apple. So you don't need to spend a lot.

 

[Corazon]

Holy jones lister, I'm really really sorry about what happened to you. Just glad it didn't turn out worse, and you were wise to encrypt your passwords...that's one big worry you don't need to have, at least.

:grouphug:

 

[lister]

What program did you use to make the backup image? ISO is an unusual format.

Sorry that was a typo i meant that I have saved the image of the machine using windows backup...

 

[lister]

- Anyways all is better now - I bought the latest version of the machine. It costs $2,700 retail but I got it for $500 because it is an ex-display machine. Works 100% though and it is a toughbook (semi rugged business) so im not too bothered that it is a display version. Kids bashing on the keyboard is ok with toughbooks

Anyways my question was - this time I am 100% going to install Prey - Open Source or Absolute LoJack - any ideas which people prefer? Thanks!

 

[lister]

I guess one answer is that Prey is open source/ free whilst Absolute is Paid version - but the paid version does come with support.....

think prey sounds like a good idea...

 

[maxseven]

I must say lister you "done really good" by having a backup that was only 3 weeks old, though I'll bet now you'll be even more prompt about these in the future. Those of us who've suffered loss-of-data believe "you can't be too careful or have too many backups!"

 

[lister]

100% right. I am zealous now about making back-ups. I have got over the theft of my previous machine but moral of the story is, 1: back-up 2: lock-up. Sounds ridicolous but when I leave my apartment I now put the laptop under my blanket! Probably oldest trick in the book but hey - if that prevents another theft then that is good news.

I moved apartment building so all is better now!

 

[lister]

Update - I just installed Prey on new laptop and its really really good. Seriously - everyone should put this type of security on their machine.

 

[maxseven]

Re: Prey I looked at the demo and it's still not clear to me how it works, but it sure is intriguing, especially that it's only $13.50/mo for up to 10 Home devices for the Pro plan. Seems like maybe cheap insurance?

One idea in the FAQ has me puzzled:

We encourage you to add a BIOS password and disable booting from removable devices on your PC, so that the thief will be forced to boot into the previous installation and thus, not be able to format your hard disk easily.

I thought a BIOS password would keep someone from booting the PC *at all* thereby perhaps inspiring him to reformat the hard drive? Negating Prey altogether? Not sure about this as I've not tried BIOS passwords myself.

Anyway good luck w/the new Toughbook and let us know how you like Prey.

 

[Sbrideau]

You can't even format with a BIOS password.

I love how easy the Windows backup system works now, and it's surprisingly good.

 

[maxseven]

You can't even format with a BIOS password.

But AFAICT a thief could always pull the PC's drive, reformat it on another PC, clear-out the CMOS, maybe re-flash the BIOS, and start-over from scratch with the stolen PC?

EDIT 1: I guess I know not whereof I speak! I thought a "BIOS password" kept a PC from booting by requiring a password pre-boot. I just tried one on this PC and the password just keeps one from getting-in to the BIOS to make changes. Going away now to figure this out....!

Correction: this PC has a BIOS password with two options: protect the BIOS only, or protect the BIOS *and* require the same password to boot the PC.

EDIT 2: OK I get it now, duh; simply, they are saying in my post above that if you disable the PC's ability to boot from any device other than the internal HDD, and then protect the BIOS with a password, the thief will boot into your OS and thereby trigger the Prey mechanism. Otherwise the thief could easily boot from e.g. a USB stick and not only bypass your OS, but also still have access to your HDD to read its files (or erase the disc and start over). Instead it will be very tempting for most thieves to boot the PC and "see what's on there" whereupon Prey will track 'em. Of course, a paranoid and tech-savvy thief might think to pull the HDD w/o booting it but the vast majority will boot it first.

 

[alphanumeric]

Most BIOS, especially laptops, have a BIOS setup password and a BOOT system password. If you set the BOOT or system password it has to be entered before the BIOS loads the OS. It won't boot the hard drive without it. Also a laptop BIOS differs from a desktop BIOS in that you can't easily reset it to defaults with a jumper or by removing the CMOS battery. The passwords are stored in eeproms (E squared PROMS). They are Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. Most desktop PC's only have eproms. Removing the CMOS battery will not erase an eeprom, it has to be reprogrammed. That means you have to know the password to get in and change the password. All the battery does is maintain the date and time. If you do set BIOS passwords on your laptop you don't want to ever forget them or you could be in for a pain full experience trying to get back in.

 

[Infinite]

What about a physical laptop lock?

KENSINGTON TECHNOLOGY GROUP Kensington ClickSafe Keyed Twin Laptop Lock - Security cable lock : Laptop Accessories | Dell UK

I need one for a PC though