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With laptop thefts on the rise, laptop owners have definitely become more vigilant, especially when they are travelling. However, one must remember that thieves are getting smarter and innovative in their thievery ways these days as well. Hence, being well armed to face the unforeseen, is a smart way of going about things. Absolute Software have developed an application, called LoJack, that can help track down stolen laptops. They introduced this software at CES 2010 held a few days back in Las Vegas.
Apart from just tracking down the stolen laptop, LoJack can also remotely delete sensitive data from it. How it works? A software called the Computrace Agent is installed in the laptop. There is a central Absolute Monitoring application running at the company’s end. The Agent on the laptop says “hello” to the monitoring agent everyday. In case the laptop gets stolen, or misplaced, on reporting the theft, the Agent tries to get in touch every 15 minutes. This happens when the laptop gets online the next time. The increased frequency of Agent contact helps find details like the physical location of the laptop, activities on the laptop after the theft etc. Absolute Software has tied up with law enforcement agents to help get hold of the laptop thieves.
The LoJack software is built into the BIOS of the workstations. Hence, a reformat of the system or hard drive cannot affect it. This application comes built into most laptops directly from the manufacturers. People will have to subscribe to it to get it activated.
The company also offers a service guarantee of $1000, if they are unable to get back the stolen laptop or complete the remote data deletion. However only premium edition subscribers are eligible for this service. (There are 2 editions offered - a standard edition for laptop recovery only and a premium edition for laptop recovery, data deletion and service guarantee.) There is no mention of whether this software will work in the UK as well.
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