What to do if your computer is lost or stolen?
First thing is to report it to the authorities. It is believed that only 3% of the lost and stolen laptops are ever recovered because people fail to report the incident. A lost computer is not like a car. If you are stopped jaywalking with computer in hand, no police office is going to say, “May I have your picture ID and your computer’s registration?” Unless you are proactive with the recovery of your computer, you most likely will never see it again.
Let’s face it, reporting a lost system is the right thing to do but it may not be good enough. If you are fortunate to have security tracking integrated in the computer then you are more likely to recover your computer.
Dell has CompuTrace integrated into the BIOS of its laptops. CompuTrace uses a software application called Lojack to secretly check into a monitoring center. This allows CompuTrace to determine the physical location of the computer and pass that information to the local police.
What makes this application so special is that if the computer’s hard drive is replaced or reformatted, the CompuTrace BIOS agent will secretly re-install the Lojack software back onto the computer’s hard drive. It’s a real slick way to beat the criminals. CompuTrace claims that they recover 3 out of 4 stolen computers. That is really good odds. You can read more about this at lojackforlaptops.com
For the latest in laptop security technology, take a look at the new Dell Latitude E series. This computer is packaged with security features which, as the description says, gives you peace of mind. The features are so advanced that data can be deleted remotely, so that no one can access it if your computer is ever lost or stolen.
Thanks for reading this series, and I hope you never lose your computer.