<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I read a few previous threads if students should have a laptop lock in the dorm.</p>
<p>I will be living in NYU's apartment-style housing (probably Coral Towers), should I get one? If yes, which one? (it will be best if I can see a pic)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Some people think laptop locks are a necessity and others think they're practically useless. Your basic lock is fairly flimsy. That said, someone who just wants to steal a computer will probably give up on stealing yours if there's a lock on it. But if someone, for one reason or another, wants your computer specifically, a lock probably isn't going to hold them back.</p>
<p>Basically, I felt that the best security I had for my laptop was the fact that I locked mine, and my roommate, who had the same computer, never locked hers. I have the lock pictured at <a href="http://www.kensington.com/html/2217.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.kensington.com/html/2217.html</a>, and I really liked it.</p>
<p>It is worth it.</p>
<p>It is used so somebody cant come by and just walk off with it. Any lock can be broken with the right tools.</p>
<p>When do you lock it up? If it's just sitting on your desk in your dorm room do you lock it? Or only when you're out at the library or something?</p>
<p>thanks ginnyvere for the pic</p>
<p>but I don't understand how those laptop locks work ... </p>
<p>and do you lock it up when you are not in your room/apartment?</p>
<p>almost all laptops today have a lock port (you probobly wouldnt see it if not looking). Basically you stick it in and you cant take it out without opening the lock in some manner (other methods will severely damage the laptop and people will know it was stolen).</p>
<p>I might consider locking it in my dorm (keep the cable attatched to the desk and just stick it in the laptop inside of its bag). I might also have one clipped to my monitor (just because I can) and possibly even my CPU case but that seems like overkill.</p>
<p>Be sure to keep the key and/or combination. I know that sounds obvious, but they're lost often enough that support visits to labs with table-bolted computers aren't rare. I find it hilarious in a twisted sort of way. . . By physically securing their system, they're making it a larger virtual target (indirectly).</p>
<p>You know, somehow I just don't see my kid actually using one of those cable locks (or wearing galoushes, a hat, sweater, raincoat). And certainly not using one in the libary when she goes off to the snack bar or for a cup of coffee and leaves her laptop on the table or in the study carel.</p>
<p>Maybe a deterent would be just as effective: </p>
<p><a href="http://www.stoptheft.com/site/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.stoptheft.com/site/index.php</a></p>
<p>Maybe as a deterent, mhc48, but there are NO safe tracking programs. So, if a company offers to locate your laptop for a price, that price will be a lost laptop. Nothing short of the hardware (internal [aka a built in fingerprint reader] or external [aka a "lock]) can stop a thief from doing what they wish with the computer.</p>
<p>I wasn't even thinking about the program or making a claim, but the unremovable label.</p>
<p>BTW, someone else on another thread talked about a personal articles policy through your insurance broker (although technically covered under most homeowners policies, there'd probably be a large deductible). The poster there said it only cost @ $38 from State Farm. My agent told me it's about $1.20 for every $100 covered. So for a $2000 laptop it would come to $25 bucks a year add a camera and an iPod and it's still pretty cheap.</p>
<p>Oh, I know. That's why I italicized "programs."</p>