I was just in the Apple Store the other day to get my cd gate fixed on my MacBook and saw LowJack for computers. Does anyone have this? Is it worth it? How do you use it?
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LowJack for computers?
- Thread starter Cindynjgirl79
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Click here for more information. If you plan on purchasing it, I would suggest checking out either eBay or Amazon for cheaper prices. Good luck!
The company my dad works for uses Lojack for it's laptops and have used it to recover several stolen laptops. Another option you might look at is Orbicules Undercover which does the same type of thing.
96% recovery rate for all stolen machines that were connected. See http://www.orbicule.com/blog/2007/02/recovery-statistics.html for more information. That's pretty good!
if they don't connect or if the hard drive is wiped, you paid for nothing, i would like to know the stats for all the machines (not just the connected ones).
From their FAQ:
You can prevent them wiping the drive "by installing a firmware password. You can find the firmware password utility on your Mac OS X Tiger DVD (in /Applications/Utilities/ on the disc). Make sure to reboot your Mac after enabling the firmware password."
I choose to use UnderCover. I liked that they would gather all ISP information and find a physical address and relay it to the authorities. LowJack will just get the ISP information and give it to you. It's up to you to find the physical address and give it to the police. That at least was my understanding. I do like that they use the motion sensor to active were as with UnderCover you have to report it stolen.
Unfortunately, even a firmware password can be beaten and it is easy enough to physically remove the hard drive, connect it to another machine using a USB adapter and start writing ones and zeros.
I'd like to see a small RFID that could be placed under the keyboard or something similar. Having to rely on software and someone connecting to the Internet just doesn't seem reliable enough.
The program does what it says it does. The author of that article was after an "expose" and not a review.
How the hell would a theif know to go to such and such a directory to delete certain strings?
Granted, if a thief removes your HD or whatever your screwed. I gotta think the majority of stolen computers are from low-life thugs instead of IT professionals.
They'll sell it in a parking lot somewhere.The naysayers against programs like this want 100% perfection. You can't achieve that. If 96% get returned that's better than 100% lost.
How would you propose the RFID solution be implemented? There currently is no infrastructure to monitor for a particular RFID and report it to anyone. For instance, your laptop gets stolen from your car. Now what? How will the RFID tag get read? the range on most RFID systems is only a few feet at most.
Unfortunately there is no bullet proof way to track a laptop. The only way this could be implemented is for the trusted computing initiative to take hold, but that scares the hell out of me.
and plus i hear lojack has the ability to wipe your HD if it's stolen, I don't know if I feel too secure with those guys knowing what's on my HD..... What if you had a bunch of illegal stuff? Not that I would ever have s'thing like that on my computer. ;
;The program does what it says it does. The author of that article was after an "expose" and not a review.
How the hell would a theif know to go to such and such a directory to delete certain strings?
Granted, if a thief removes your HD or whatever your screwed. I gotta think the majority of stolen computers are from low-life thugs instead of IT professionals.
The naysayers against programs like this want 100% perfection. You can't achieve that. If 96% get returned that's better than 100% lost.
If you read the article carefully and you know what you're talking about, you'd see that the program is hilariously ineffective at doing what it is sold as doing.
"Help help I'm a stolen laptop"
Priceless. That's going to really do something.
Downloading a whole database to search for one computer? Laughable.
It's even more laughable that when one review was written, there was only one entry in the database. ONE ENTRY!
Also,
If your ISP is fairly slow to react to P2P downloads and divulge their access logs to the RIAA and the like, do you really think that they're going to risk a lawsuit for breach of privacy to track down one stupid stolen laptop, because some two-bit application with a two-bit programmer calls them up and says that he wants to know where an IP address is so he can track down a laptop?
Get real people. The police only stop people when they see a crime committed, or there is plenty of evidence of a crime being committed. They're not going to pursue a stolen laptop because an program swears it's stolen.
I know these things, we had a case of a laptop being confiscated in an unrelated incident, where they took the serial number and called up Apple computer and the serial number was tied to our purchase order. That's when they called us. WHEN THEY HAD THE LAPTOP IN THEIR POSSESSION!
No laptop, no case.
You'd have to go with an active RFID tag instead of a passive one for the reasons you mentioned above. To date the active RFID tags have been too large to fit into a notebook computer, but they are getting smaller everyday. For example, there is one called PanGo Active RFID Tag that is about 2.5" long, 1.7" wide and less than 1" thick and makes use of 802.11 b/g wireless.
In a year such devices will be even smaller and could probably be built directly into the notebook as an option at purchase. Then the device just needs to come into range of a WiFi access point and these days WiFi access points are everywhere. Or perhaps WAN WiFi could be implemented and the device would communicate with cell towers.
Is that only for Macs or Pc's ?
Oh well what if the theives only connects to a Wifi enable spots ? Will the police go around the cafe asking to check your serial number ? What if you live in a building or a college dorm and connects to next door neighbor's wireless ?
I don't think if you use Wifi they will be able to catch anyone.Because you could be parked outside on you car.
Oh well what if the theives only connects to a Wifi enable spots ? Will the police go around the cafe asking to check your serial number ? What if you live in a building or a college dorm and connects to next door neighbor's wireless ?
I don't think if you use Wifi they will be able to catch anyone.Because you could be parked outside on you car.
The reason I prefer Computrace LoJack for laptops compared to Orbicules software is because LoJack is based out of the United States and are more familiar with US Law compared to Orbicule.
LoJack is based in Vancouver, Canada (http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/contact-us-lojack-for-laptops.asp)