What would you do, forget that… what would I do if I had my laptop stolen? Or even worst if I was stupid enough to leave it somewhere and not realize it till minutes later when it possibly gets into the hands of the wrong person.

While at the library the other day with the kids, I almost did that really stupid thing. I had my bag over my shoulder and just closed up my laptop and grabbed it with my hand, then went to go check on the kids while they were doing the self checkout. I put my laptop down on the counter to help one of them as she was having trouble. When we were done, I walked about 3-4 feet away when I realized my hands were empty and my bag was way too light. Yea 3-4 feet is nothing but being how I am so very over protective of it, that is a big deal. Besides an open area of 3-4 feet with no one around is all you really need when your a thief, a real determined thief will just take it right out of your hands.

So what happens then? How would you get it back? Not only have you lost the sometimes very expensive computer but you have lost the content on it, that may include thousands of pictures, mp3’s, and even personal information which in most cases is more valuable then the computer.

First thing, ALWAYS make a backup. I personally keep all my pictures, videos, and music and important docs on a external drive. This drive is rarely brought with me when I go anywhere with my laptop because anything I feel I may need I will usually just copy to my laptop. Not only is this a good idea in case you loose or have your laptop stolen, but it’s good to have a backup in case your computer crashes and you are unable to recover it. In my experience the drive that isn’t running your operating system is less likely to fail. There are alot of companies that have software for backing up your files. But most computers have software built in for just this reason. Or you can just do what I do and manually move over your files.

Software solutions, there are many software companies that claim to have the best solution to this problem and possible retrieve your stolen laptop. Some will even delete important personal documents from your computer when it’s stolen such as your electronic tax returns, thus helping to stop identity theft. Most are just a simple piece of software that remains hidden on your hard drive. The problem with this is, what happens when the thief formats your computers hard drive? It goes bye bye along with all your files. Some of this software can be costly with a yearly fee, but on average that yearly fee seems to be no more then $50 so that is consider nothing (if your laptop is recovered) compared to shelling out another $1000+ for a new laptop. But thankfully you can even find recovery software that is free such as LocatePC.

A better software route to go with is ones that install into the BIOS. This would survive operating system re installations, hard drive formats, and hard drive replacements. Most computer manufactures have this feature already available. Or an experienced computer user can install it themselves. But this just like the previous paragraph can be useless in the right hands, as the thief can flash the BIOS. If you choose to go this route, you might want to check out LoJack for Laptops or Computrace. Both of these from what I understand are the same company.

Chip Solutions, Intel has a new chip soon to come out (if not already) Anti-Theft Technology (ATT), that will make stolen laptops unbootable without the owner’s permission. Thus making it impossible to format the drive. If the thief knew that laptops were unbootable they would probably be less likely to steal them, unless they choose to sell the parts.

Then there are the simple deterrents such as security plates. One such company to go with is StopTheft. Security plates are a permanently affixed and bar-coded metal tag that deters theft. Most have a registration number, clear warnings, and most importantly marks it as stolen equipment eliminating the reason for most theft which is to resale.

For office and schools, it’s probably best to go with a steel locking cable system. Thieves are more likely to not steal what can’t be moved.

PLEASE NOTE: I will not be held responsible if you choose to use one of these suggestions and your laptop get’s stolen and is not retrieved. I am simple giving suggestions on how to possible retrieve your laptop or prevent it from being stolen in the first place.

My laptop didn’t come with Bluetooth, that model would of been an additional $100.00. In January I decided to start looking to add that feature. The internal card would of cost $50.00 on eBay and since I really don’t feel the need to use it all the time I bought this baby for the nice price of only $8.00. Being one of the smallest Bluetooth adapters around I can pretty much forget that it’s even there I keep it there 24/7 even when I bring my computer out and about. Like others It wont get accidentally knocked out because of it’s sleek curved design.