Turn your laptop's USB port into an alarm with LalAlarm

This is probably the best little application you've never heard of. While it's no substitute for true laptop protection against thievery, ie a Kensington lock, the application is free and it works!

The idea is that you install the software and configure it so that either the power plug or a USB port will issue an alarm (or any other number of commands) when the laptop is disconnected from an outlet, or when a USB thumb drive is removed.

Other options include launching applications, deleting files, or recovering them. In recovery mode, critical files can be sent to you remotely if the thief uses your laptop (thanks Jason Fitzpatrick!).

You can read more about LalAlarm at LifeHacker here:
http://lifehacker.com/5370570/lalarm-turns-your-laptops-usb-port-into-an-alarm

Or check out the official site here:
http://www.lalarm.com/en/index.htm

To utilize the USB thumb drive feature, please see this link:
http://www.lalarm.com/en/KB2_Lock_Laptop_Alarm.htm

 

It appears promising, but I'd like to see a review on it first. Where did you learn about this?

 

Erm... the LifeHacker website.

 

And what happens if someone just closes the lid before they unplug/walk away with it, does it still sound the alarm even then? somehow I doubt it.

 

It's a free download? Test it out and let us know how you made out.

Either that, or read the F.A.Q.: http://www.lalarm.com/en/FAQ.htm

 

So that also means losing your confidential files after a power failure... that would be annoying...

 

Assuming that you have a proper backup system in place, this shouldn't be an issue. Regardless, you can look at this in two ways:

1) If you have confidential files, why would you want to risk them being accessed by an individual who is not authorized? It's kind of like the notebooks that were stolen from Veteran's Affairs which contained hundreds of thousands of Veteran social security numbers (mine included) and other highly sensitive information.

2) If you have a laptop that contains confidential files, I would imagine that you would keep close watch of your laptop so that the possibility of it ever being stolen or illegally accessed never happened.

 

It does an awfully lot in the background, how is the performance so far for you?

cheers ...

 

This is quite interesting also.