<p>Is laptop theft a problem at Carnegie Mellon? </p>
<p>If so, what are some suggestions to keep my laptop safe. Having it stolen in the middle of the school year can be really devastating =/</p>
<p>It has been a problem in the past and will continue to be a problem in the future and possibly every campus out there.</p>
<p>You can register your laptop with the campus police (as you can any expensive item, iPod, cell phone, bike, etc) in case it's ever magically recovered. You should always lock your laptop down if you leave it in your room. Never leave your laptop in view of your dorm's doorway if you leave the door open when you leave your room. And don't ever leave your laptop unattended.</p>
<p>Check out Laptop</a> Security: Tracking, Theft Recovery & Remote Data Delete for the Computrace product. It's pretty good. Definitely google for discounts on it, usually you can find it 10-20% off. Its very good stuff (no, I'm not affiliated with this company, just have put it on all our laptops).</p>
<p>As long as you don't leave your laptop unattended someplace, and you lock your room when you leave, I wouldn't expect it to be a problem - that's true of any school. If someone is looking to take a laptop, chances are that someone else's will be easier to take.</p>
<p>Theft recovery software is said to work very well; they claim 100% recovery.
PC</a> PhoneHome and MacPhoneHome computer tracking and recovery software - stops laptop theft, stops computer theft
It's clever stuff; the thief doesn't know it's installed, and his IP address points police (via his ISP) to his address. It doesn't actually stop the theft, but it undoes it, getting your PC back to you quickly (they say).</p>
<p>Maybe I'm a bad example, but I'm pretty trusting of my CMU peers. I leave things unattended, and I never locked my laptop - ever. I kind of expect that people aren't going to let some sketchy guy walk in and just take my laptop while I'm 10 feet away getting a coffee or something.</p>
<p>As far as in my room, I lived in London-Terrance last year, which was off campus and small, so we didn't really have an issue with random people coming in and out, and we were a really tight-knit community so I felt like I could trust anyone in my building and thus never locked and hardly ever closed my door. Note: we did have some break-ins but that's a different story and not really relevant to this thread as they were beyond the scope of simple laptop theft. I think the new bars in the windows should help out whoever lives there now.</p>
<p>So in conclusion, it's not like laptops are stolen very frequently, and you should use your head - I wouldn't have left my stuff unattended if I lived in a 500-person dorm verses a 30-person apt.</p>
<p>Last year there was a theft from my son's sutie at Morewood. The hallway door had been left open by suitemates. His roommate's laptop was stolen along with my son's backpack (probably to carry the laptop). DS always locked his laptop to the desk while in the room. Yes, the odds are against it, but if it only takes a minute to secure your laptop why even take that chance?</p>
<p>^Was his laptop in plain sight of the door?</p>
<p>Not from the main hallway, but from the door of the bedroom. However, the bedroom door had been closed. So someone ducked in, opened the door, grabbed the stuff, and ran. Locks were subsequently put on the bedroom doors (it was an unusual suite layout and the suitemates were out of sight of the hallway door). I'm only saying ounce of prevention, better safe than sorry, yada yada.</p>