What steps could be taken to make safe your notebooks from being stolen or lost? YouGetItBack.com reported that more than 70, 000 notebooks and personal digital assistant (PDA) haven’t yet be claimed and according to Accenture, 10-15% handheld devices lost are because of the owner’s carelessness.
There are certain steps we could do to reduce the risk:
1- ID Labelling - Label all your notebooks or handheld devices with coded permanent ID. Company that offer this services including ArmorTag, BoomerangIT, Stuffbak, TrackItBack, YouGetItBack.com and zReturn
2- Tracking and Recovery Software - A recovery software work as a locater, it’s a software based transmitter. Once installed, it secretly send a signal to the service center via telephone or internet connection and we could track its location when reported lost or stolen.
Absolute Software’s ComputraceComplete, Brigadoon’s PC PhoneHome, Inspice’s Inspice Trace, XTool’s Laptop Tracker, and zTrace Technologies’ zTrace Gold.
3- Make backup and encrypted you data - Whatever you do, it’s still can be stolen. Therefore it is a must for you to copy your data in somewhere else as backup and encrypted all your important data.
Option for backup: External hard disk, network-attached storage, portable USB storage or online storage.
Many new portable drives come with encryption, but it is also available as an add-on from Cryptainer PE, Migo Portable Vault, or TrueCrypt (free). These are simple and inexpensive options (as long as you don’t lose your password). You could also lock your data with Windows’ built-in encryption capabilities, namely EFS in Windows XP and BitLocker in Vista Ultimate
4- Finally you may want to try an alarm. The Belkin USB Laptop Security Alarm function as cable locks but sound an alarm if someone cuts the cable. The Doberman Laptop Defender Portable USB Computer Alarm incorporates a motion sensor that triggers a loud alarm if the device attached to it is moved.
Final advices:
Do not leave your laptop unguarded. Use cable lock or take it with you.
