<p>Worried about a brand new laptop being stolen from dorm room...are any of the locks on the market truly reliable?</p>
<p>I bought my son one (I can't guarantee he'll use it).</p>
<p>My logic that if it's used, the person who wants to steal a laptop will find one that isn't secured.</p>
<p>Same thing for using a club on my car. Yes, you could cut it off, but why not steal an unsecured one.</p>
<p>I also have computer tracking software on the computer and it's insured. </p>
<p>Yes, I'm worried about theft..</p>
<p>I bought one for under $30 from Best Buy - I can't find a link but think the brand is Kensington. I figure if D uses it, $30 is nothing compared to a stolen laptop - not only for room but for the library etc.</p>
<p>Get a cable lock. It plugs into a security slot in the laptop (that's designed for a lock - they pretty much all have one) and loop around something like a bedframe, part of a desk, etc. It makes it much easier to steal someone else's laptop rather than yours. They sell them at Circuit City, etc. They're sometimes on sale this time of year at a pretty good discount. My D's have them and use them. </p>
<p>This won't keep a laptop from being wiped, but it will help find the thief. DS programed his laptop to have the "guest" login automatically take a photo and email it to himself. Nerd strikes back.</p>
<p>Laptop theft tends to be a crime of opportunity. So making it harder to steal the laptop means that the thief will go on to an easier one. That's the major benefit of a cable lock. (I'm sending one with d.)</p>
<p>Get a cable lock and use it - even in the dorm. A friend's daughter's locked room at Carnegie Mellon was broken into. Her laptop and iPod were taken.</p>
<p>DD has a desk lock for her lap top and she uses it.</p>
<p>Also bought one for D; $19.99 on sale at Circuit City. I think they're a a deterrent, but I think that just buying the thing doesn't guarantee they'll use it. I think D will use hers because she's gone so long without a computer of her own and she definately doesn't want to be without one again.</p>
<p>Yes, she needs one.</p>
<p>No, unfortunately, she probably won't use it.</p>
<p>I bought one at Best Buy for my son, also as a deterrent. Someone with a pair of wire cutters can easily cut through the cable. But that would be a hardened, premeditated criminal act, not just a random act of petty theft, so I would hope it would be much less likely to occur. If my son's laptop gets stolen he will have to buy himself the next one out of his own savings/earnings.</p>
<p>agree that security is important -- losing a laptop would be bad enough, but losing a laptop with tons of confidential information (bank and credit card logons, passwords, etc., etc.) could be disastrous. The cable locks, though, are pretty cumbersome and not easy to use if you like to work with your LAPtop in your lap. Eternal vigilance!</p>
<p>Circuit City has the Kensington on sale this week about $22. Daughter has one, not sure she is using it. I also have a tracker but not Lojack. I think the only thing the tracker will tell me is the IP address and I am assuming the whole college has the same IP. Also, my insurance required that daughter keep the laptop password protected so a normal non techie person cannot use it. I am very worried about theft and daughter's desk is right inside the dorm door.</p>
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Also, my insurance required that daughter keep the laptop password protected so a normal non techie person cannot use it.
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<p>that's good protection for casual interlopers (roommate or friends who happen to be in the room and need to Google something), but no protection at all against even non-techies who really want to get in. If you physically possess the box, breaking in is very easy.</p>
<p>Pshhh. At my d's school, everyone has one, no one locks them. They are given locks free. They do lock up the $100 bikes though.</p>
<p>We bought one of those cable locks for DD a couple of years ago. Although we encouraged her to use it, I don't know if she really did. She is living in a theme house (French) this year with seven other students and it is a big hang out for lots of other students. DD didn't seem too concerned about locking her computer until we mentioned that if it is stolen, we will not replace it nor will we claim it on insurance since the cost of a new one would be about what our deductible is. DD quickly dug out her lock and put it on while we were still there.</p>
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Also, my insurance required that daughter keep the laptop password protected so a normal non techie person cannot use it.
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Even better protection in addition to this would be to encrypt the contents of the drive for any areas where there might be personal data (ex: Documents folder). With the data encrypted even a techie can't access it without knowing the user ID (when using the built-in Windows file encryption option).</p>
<p>We bought DS a cable lock when he got his laptop freshman year. He's leaving tomorrow for his senior year and I know it's never been used. This year he's going back with two laptops, his and one from the company he interned with over the summer so he can get into their server. I think I'll suggest that he does something about securing at least that laptop since it is not his.</p>