Every day we read in the news about laptops getting stolen, sometimes from the backs of cars or from under seats in coffee shops, maybe from hotel rooms and even from inside our homes, anywhere in fact.
Laptops are valuable, not so much even for the technology they carry but because they tend to contain a lot of personal details. We all know the hassle and worry that can come if someone steals our identity.
Getting the laptop back is not so straightforward. Realistically, once it has gone from your sights you’re highly unlikely to ever see it again, unless of course you have “Prey”.
Prey is a free open source application that is compatible with all operating systems and if you have it installed in your laptop you just might have a chance.
“Prey helps you locate your missing laptop by sending timed reports with a bunch of information of its whereabouts. This includes the general status of the computer, a list of running programs and active connections, fully-detailed network and wifi information, a screenshot of the running desktop and — in case your laptop has an integrated webcam — a picture of the thief” it says on the preyproject website.
Wow! Not only will you be able to discover the whereabouts of your beloved laptop but snapping a mug shot of the thief gets the culprit caught too. Even if a Wi-Fi connection isn’t activated, it will try to connect to the nearest one available to send you the stuff.
So are we going to be bothered with hundreds of irritating updates even when our laptop hasn’t been stolen? No, now you can configure Prey to run exactly how you want it to run and you can do that from the web.
“Prey uses a remote activation system which means the program sits silently in your computer until you actually want it to run. If so, it gathers all the information and sends it to your Prey web control panel or directly to your mailbox. The thief will never know his movements are being watched.”
Ok someone is bound to mention the fact that anyone stealing a laptop is likely to wipe it clean. That may be true but usually not before they’ve had a look through it for some valuable information first.
Anyway, when all things are said and done, there’s no harm in having a free unobtrusive bit of software on your laptop, especially if it gives you the remotest chance of recovering yours if it ever does go walkabout.
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Gee thanks. This would have been useful exactly two weeks ago, when my laptop was still ‘not stolen’. Sheesh.
Good to know though. I’m kinda curious what their monetizing strategy is though – this is not the sort of service that is free for a reason.