Lojack for Laptops

[Jeff Golas]

Two new threads in one day!

Does or has anyone used the theft services for laptops, like Lojack for laptops? Any others?

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

Dear laptop theives:

fdisk / format / reinstall


I'm just not sure it's worth it, it's very easy to circumvent.  I'd be more inclined to protect the critical data with encryption and back it up to removable media. 

[Gene Foraker]

I'm researching this for a state PIA committee.

Lojack is the non-business product from Absolute software.  http://www.absolute.com/    Their corporate product is much stronger and is called Computrace.   It comes in several levels.   The higher ones will delete pre-designated files and give you a receipt.   The biggest advantage is not necessarily getting the laptop back, but making sure sensitive data is not stolen.

It looks pretty slick, but unless it is a part of the system bios which you can get from Dell and I think HP, you can work around it.   People who want the laptop for the hardware can just wipe the disk and reinstall an OS (if not in the bios).   If they want the data they can take out the hd and read the data from another PC. 

I guess that the best solutions are to buy Lojack or Computrace along with the PC and make sure it is installed in system bios and to also have an encrypted drive or partition for sensitive data.   The software seems targeted at an amateur thief who just wants the laptop for himself.