FREE tool to track lost/stolen laptops

College Life
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<p>The University of Washington has released a free tool to help you recover a lost or stolen laptop. It installs a piece of software that periodically connects to the internet and allows you (but only you) to identify where the laptop is. A press release is at [Free Adeona service tracks stolen laptops | University of Washington](<a href=“http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=43037”>http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=43037&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

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You can get the software at [url=<a href=“http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/]Adeona[/url”>http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/]Adeona[/url</a>]</p>

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<p>How do I install this if I’m not a UW student? ;)</p>

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<p>Click on the lower link!</p>

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<p>I have Adeona installed (its one of the few that will work on Vista, and on 64-bit computers). I can’t say I’ve tested it out well yet lol. Once installed and logged on, the only thing you can do with it is make it tell you where the laptop is, based on the last time it logged on to an internet connection. But if I had my laptop stolen then I wouldn’t be able to access that program. I’m not sure, looks like the only way to make this unredundant is to install the logon file (or whatever) into my usb stick. But if THAT gets stolen…</p>

<p>Still, there’s no reason NOT to have some kind of security program just in case you can work it properly. Just remember, This is not foolproof. I keep adding countless security measures to my computer (I’m OCD AND paranoid, not a good combo). Soon I’ll add a program that will disable bootkey logins. After that I’m just making sure I’m backing up all my important files, because even if I had Adeona properly setup when someone stole it, they could always insert a killdisk and format my whole harddrive. Even if Adeona recovered the computer to me, I’d be missing all my files.</p>

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<p>sleepyman, what you need to do is save the file it generates, adeona-retrievecredentials.ost, somewhere safe. On the very last screen of the install it tells you this; it says you can email it to yourself, put it on a disk, a USB stick, even print it out or write it down!</p>

<p>Then if your computer is lost/stolen you just go to another computer and install the recovery software. Use the file you saved earlier and then run the recovery program to see if its connected to the internet.</p>

<p>I want to add this isn’t perfect or guaranteed to find your machine. But its free, and at least gives you a chance.</p>

<p>Lastly, your point about backing up important files is well taken. I’d advise EVERYONE to have backups of their data. Even if your machine is never lost, disks crash. There are services on the web that offer backup for about $5/mos for unlimited data, free backup for 1-2G. Or you could create a microsoft skydrive account (free) and copy your data there regularly. Or you could use one of the tools you can find online that allow you to use gmail as storage. And at many U’s students are allowed a certain quota of files online.</p>

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<p>I had never heard of that MS Skydrive thing until now, definitely going to set myself up with an account on there tonight to back up all of my digital photos! It’s a nice way to compliment my external drive, and it also will let me access pictures from anywhere.</p>

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<p>Yes mike that log file thing. (I’ve literally downloaded hundreds of freeware programs for my laptop, i completely understand why I would miss the Readme file).</p>

<p>As for backup services, somewhere in the depths of my firefox/delicious bookmarks I have a page that lists free online storage services anywhere from 30-60 GB.</p>