Security at College

Hey I am just about ready to head off to college and I am concerned with the safety of my laptop.....I will always have it with me at class but am concerned about when it will be sitting in my room....any ideas for a good protection system/lock.

 

l saw a pic yesterday on NBF that had the laptop sitting on the desk with a security lock thing attached to it.

 

just grab a lock, it wont prevent theft but it will deter it...theres a little slot in the side of ur computer where the lock will fit in, loop the lock around something that is fixed to the wall in your dorm. If someone wants the laptop they will need some pretty good wirecutters or theyll have to break the casing on your laptop. again, it wont prevent theft but it will deter them from trying.

 

The other advanced measure for protection against theft is to get a tracker program, that can email you the location of your laptop if it's stolen.

a quick google search turned up this likely candidate.
ntracker
It's $30 and can help you recover your laptop/ prove ownership. I didn't do a lot of research into whether this is the best program for this, but its a start.

 

In addition to the lock, use good judgement, too. If your room has a numeric combination rather than a key lock, don't give out your combo and ask your roommate to do the same. If you're roommate doesn't respect that and has friends who seem questionable to you, keep your laptop with you as much as possible. Don't let your friends, especially if they are not sober, play with your computer. I knew someone who let a drunk friend mess with her system and he deleted some system file so Windows wouldn't boot anymore. And for god's sake man, don't let anyone near your computer with a beverage! I'll tell you from working at my college computer store, spill damage is the leading cause of hardware issues in a college setting.

 

the kensington lock is good..but depending on the model you have it may block some usb ports

 

get a cabinet that has a locking door and then lock the nb in there when you leave. people wont see it and will asume that you have it with you.

 

This sounds like the best idea. However, if you aren't able to install a cabinet in your room, a kensington-type lock is probably the best theft-deterrent; you'll be able to use it outside your room as well. You can get them really cheap on ebay (like this one), and for $10, I don't really see a reason not to get one, just in case. I have one and it allows me a little more freedom when I'm at the library etc.

 

Definitely a Kensington-like lock. There are some that are combination-based and others are key-based. If you can remember combinations, that might be better as long as you don't give out the numbers or make it easy to guess. The only reason being keys can also be stolen...and if you have the lock key on your key ring, the thief can steal your key ring...and then get your laptop later.

Also, look at protection in terms of software and your system. Make sure you have up-to-date virus protection and firewalls. Limit who you share data/files - I remember university/college being a hub of bootlegging via file sharing programs and people downloading bad data and spreading like wildfire. Some institutions might not be constantly updating/fixing virus outbreaks and/or breaches, so that Word document obtained from your groupmate who worked on it in the lab might be festering with a worm. I'd also be sure to have passwords and such for Windows and the likes, just to be extra cautious (I mean, if your laptop does actually get stolen, the last thing you need is someone to hack in and get access to your data).

 

oh and i forgot to mention that you should find some software that if it does get stolen that the nb will self destruct when they try to use it. just that extra little bit of insurance incase they try to access your info.

 

I hardly see the point of the software security programs. Aside from auto-destruct to keep from having your data stolen and a good password to keep it from getting to that stage, I think having a visible detterent is probably more important. Just like WEP, it's breakable, but it says to whoever is interested, move on to the next room.

~ Brett

 

The one other thing I just remembered is go talk with your parents' home insurance company/broker. Most policies have the ability to add on a "rider" that covers theft while you're at school - usually at no additional cost to your parents' existing homeowner's policy.

 

get a security program, that as soon as it gets stolen. phone the laptop-police and they find location (if ur laptop is turned on) and the police storm the bugger.
but yeah, Get a kennignston combo lock