How to protect your laptop against theft and loss

Laptop theft is rampant. They have a 1 in 10 chance
Your new shiny laptop was stolen. And the real
Shocker: According to the FBI 97% are not recovered.

And you should know, the U.S. Department of Justice
said in a recent report that the FBI lost 160 laptops
in a period of 44 months ending September 2005. If
FBI agents have difficulty track of their laptops,
Imagine what the ordinary person is facing.

The statistics arerather bleak. A laptop is stolen every
53 seconds. Ouch!

With statistics like those that have to do everything in your
power to avoid becoming a victim of the theft of the laptop. If you
keep valuable personal or business data on
Laptop, the consequences still more cruel and
devastating. Hardware can be replaced laptop for easy
but your precious data can be lost forever.

So here are ...

10 practical waysto protect your laptop from theft
Loss or theft.

1. Keep your eyes on your laptop

Pay attention to your laptop at any time, especially when
Travel. Would not let Bill THOUSAND DOLLARS
around you? To see your laptop
eng.

2. Do not use obvious laptop bag

Bring your laptop in regular luggage that does not see
as a laptop computer.Do not advertise your laptop to each
would be thieves.

3. Use Visual Locks and chains

visual use locks and restraints to secure your laptop and
have a deterrent effect. Do not fool the thieves, but tempered
most will be less safe for a laptop. For example,
You can use a product like STOP, this system works by connecting
a specially prepared dish of security for your laptop. The dish
is barcoded and registered. Evenwith a warning label
Rent-a would-be cyber thieves know that the title
Laptop is permanently monitored.

4. Use passwords and encryption

Use passwords and encryption to protect all sensitive
Information on your laptop. Although I am very
sophisticated encryption does not fool the expert
Hacker or hard-core digital thief but it will slow down
and hinder the common criminal.

Set a BIOS passwordYour laptop. You have to take
Advantage of a security option, s' on the laptop "
OS or operating system. For those of Mac OS X, you can
Encrypt your entire hard drive and set a master password
to view it.

Windows XP and Vista allows you to encrypt files and folders. Only
Right-click your data, select Properties, then the General tab
coded and then click Advanced to see "the contents to secure data
Box ".

5. Use encryptionPrograms like Steganos Safe 2007

You can also try something like Steganos Safe 2007th Vitale
Files can be encrypted and you can even USB thumb
Drive or iPod into a key to unlock the hard disk.

6. Use software such as LoJack anti-theft

Use anti-theft software that can track and your
Computer or laptop using the IP address once the stolen
Laptop is used to access the Internet. systems that use as
"For LoJackPortable. "Costs about $ 50 per year
but may be worth the price for peace of mind only.

According to the information on its website is back 3 of 4
stolen laptops equipped with the LoJack system. It 's basically
Places hidden and silent software that reports the IP
Address or location of the laptop, in case of theft and
Thief connects to the Internet.

7. Use invisible ultraviolet markings

Use invisible ultravioletMarks, and all again
stolen laptop becomes clear how to identify the police.
The search for the serial number of your laptop is also a good
Street, this number is stored in another location other
that on your laptop.

8. Try to distance omission of data

If you put important information on a laptop
remote self-destruct solution available. Then
Their highly sensitive information can be deletedremoved
After your laptop stolen.

9. Be prepared

Create company policies for managing your company's laptops.
Have procedures for monitoring and reporting of
The laptops are stolen or misplaced. Be prepared for the inevitable.

10. Backup Backup Backup

Make regular backups of all important information on your laptop.
Most of the information is useless to potential thieves but may
very importantPersonally or for the operation of
Your company.

Whether it is simply due to theft or loss of losing
A laptop is a painful experience that you should avoid at all
Costs. However, if it happened to you, you can ensure
To minimize the pain caused by a full backup of the laptop
Website. In most cases, this information is very
value than the same laptop.

For the hardware can be easily replaced,Your personal information and
Months / years of work may take forever to recover or redo.
Sometimes it is lost forever, backup your data
regularly. Keep your laptop and its contents safe and
Harm's Way. Just protect yourself and your laptop through
with the help of the tips you have just read.

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Protect Your Self Against Identity Theft Before Getting Rid of Your Old PC

Are you thinking about getting rid of your old computer, donating it or Giving it away? Well if you are, you should read this first. Used computers are an easy target for identity theft. It's very important that you understand the steps you need to take to in order to protect yourself and your identity.

Whenever you sell your PC or give it away, you should always erase all your personal & confidential information. But it's not that simple.

The next few steps I have put together are to help protect your personal information and shut the door on any potential identity theft risk.

I have to admit that one of the only fail-safe way to completely prevent Identity theft when selling or giving away your PC is to yank out the hard drive first then let a truck pass over it a few times. (LOL)

To be extra safe you may take it to a crushing machine. But that's a bit extreme especially if you want to sell it or give away to someone.

Replacing your old PC or Laptop

One of the reasons many people are replacing their PC's at a faster pace now is because today's PC games, internet activity and everything else demands a faster, more powerful machine.

But there are always others out there who can still use your old computer. These people or organizations don't require the speed or need that you do. Nevertheless, it is imperative that your personal information stays with you and does not go with the PC.

The following steps are a way to help you decide what to do with your old PC and how to go about it.

Here are a Few tips on how to prevent ID theft when you sell, recycle or give away your old computer.

Step 1. You can remove the hard drive or drives. This step, while is quick and easy to do, is also very drastic. If you choose this option then of course you still going to have the data-packed drive left. Besides, opening up your PC has risks. You can easily damage other parts as well as your self.

If after all, you do choose this route, you can still erase the drive later on by connecting it to another computer with a special USB cable.

Step 2. Erase part or all of the drive and leave it in your PC. This sounds relatively easy but there's a catch. (actually two)

A) if you erase the drive, by reformatting it or deleting folders individually along with files, this doesn't actually delete the data. This will only remove file names from the drive's master index and the files themselves can still be easily read using any file recovery software.

B) You can't reformat your main hard drive (it's usually located in the "C" drive on a PC) while it's in use helping to run your computer.

You will probably need special software specifically for this so that it will completely destroy all files, overwriting with zeroes several times. There are two links further on down if so choose this method.

Mac users should use the built-in Disk Utility. Perform a secure erase of all free drive space.

NOTE* if you're erasing your main drive, as mentioned above, you'll need to boot (launch) your computer from a specially prepared CD since you'll be wiping out your operating system (e.g., Windows).

Choosing the right step for you

Step 3. Erase only the data and personal information. If you do this, you will leave your operating system and other programs intact for the next user.

Again, I recommend using a dedicated file deletion program to completely nuke & destroy your personal data (this after you copy or back it up for your new machine, of course!) folder by folder.

NOTE* Many programs you might leave in your old PC (especially Internet browsers) can retain personal information, like passwords or details of sites you visited.

You should be able to either uninstall these separately or delete personal information from them.

Step 4. Removing other media. Make sure that you DO NOT leave a disk in the computer's CD/DVD drive. Or a Compact Flash or Secure Digital card or memory stick in the reader, or floppy or Zip disk as well.

I once sold a laptop to a friend and I went ahead and erased all my personal data using a program called Evidence Nuker. But inside the disk drive.... I had a CD with all my personal passwords I had just saved there to swap to my new Laptop. Luckily for me my friend noticed it and gave it back to me. To show my gratitude I gave him back a $100.00 Bux and said "have dinner on me!

Thanks for reading my article and have a great day!

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