How To Secure Laptop From Theft

Set Up Location Finding

Enabling a location-finding service can be a great help if you ever lose your laptop, either because you are distracted or it is stolen.

Remotely finding your laptop poses a privacy risk, as these services can track you. Therefore, it is a personal decision that is a trade-off between how much you value your laptop and how comfortable you are sharing your location. I personally dont use it, but quite a few people have had success with this kind of software.

Best Practices And Tips For Keeping Personal And Work Devices Secure

Every 53 seconds, a victim falls prey to laptop theft, becoming exposed to the reputational, individual, and financial losses that accompany a data breach.

Protecting all of the devices you use is important, since all devices personal and professional are at risk. Antivirus software doesnt stop identity theft when the hacker has physical access to your device, so effective hardware security measures are crucial for keeping your data secure. Here are some security steps you can take to protect your personal and company-owned laptops.

Ensure your computers have a TPM.

Most new machines have a hardware security measure called a Trusted Platform Module . This is a physical, tamper-resistant component on a hard drive that prevents it from being accessed from an unfamiliar device. If a thief tries to take out your computers hard drive and use it with a different computer, the hard drive would remain inaccessible.

The TPM is highly effective, though not 100%. It is important to have multiple security measures, and this one is straightforward and cost effective since it typically comes with the machine. To check if your computer has a TPM, press Windows+R, type tpm.msc and press Enter. You should see information about your computers TPM. If you see a message saying that a compatible TPM cannot be found, then your computer does not have one.

Dont leave your laptop in an unattended vehicle.

Encrypt Hard Drives.

How To Protect Your Laptop In A Backpack

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How to protect your laptop in a backpack Your laptop the most products which are important own. For school, work, play or simply living in touch, its vital you take positive actions to safeguard your laptop while you transfer it from location to place whether you use it.

Students take pleasure in the freedom to choose their own backpack, however numerous offer small to no safety for laptop or tablet products. The higher floor wants to allow you to maintain your laptop in great problem, therefore weve developed this guide of the finest tricks and tips you should use to protect your laptop from damage.

A laptop is one of the devices that is important one can have. Laptops are used inside homes and also utilized while traveling from destination to place. Whilst traveling men and women utilize mostly backpack that is laptop so students, boys, and women make use of a backpack for How to protect your laptop in a backpack.

How to protect your laptop in a backpack tends to be trending, however some safety measures must certainly be taken by you to avoid damage. Making use of bags to hold a How to protect your laptop in a backpack is safe and will be described as a style also. Because modern-day laptop bags have protection functions.

Simple tips on how to protect your laptop in a backpack?

How to protect your laptop in a backpack?

Invest in a good quality anti-theft backpack

Cracked screens:

Remove hard devices:

Dropping:

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Take The Following Steps With Your New Laptop

If you have to get a new laptop, use the lessons from your recent experience and take the proper precautions. By doing this, you can lessen the risks if it, unfortunately, gets lost or stolen again.

Here are a few things you should do with your new laptop:

The Harsh Reality Of Laptop Theft

Opportunist thieves will snatch your laptop if they get the chance, and they wont be bothered whether all of your work is on there or not. Then youll end up having to buy a new laptop and finish all of those assignments again before the deadline not to mention the big expense, on top of everything else youre juggling just to survive the college years.

Obviously, thats a situation you want to avoid. Thus, its important to take the following steps for how to protect your laptop from theft.

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What Should I Do If My Laptop Is Stolen

While some of the ideas below could help you find a missing device, wed strongly recommend that you involve the police rather than heading off to confront the thief yourself.

Locations provided by tracking services will be approximate, so youre unlikely to know which exact door to pound upon. Plus, theres the fact that the thieves have already proven theyre not exactly adherents to the law, so you cant be sure of what theyll do if challenged.

Choose An Inconspicuous Bag

When a thief sees a fancy laptop bag, they immediately think that there must be an expensive and high-powered laptop hidden inside. Buying an expensive laptop bag is the electronic equivalent of showing up at the airport with a set of designer luggage you are essentially waving a big red flag and inviting thieves to come your way.

Instead of a dedicated laptop bag or laptop theft protection case, choose a plain backpack with a laptop sleeve built in. To a would-be thief the bag will look like just a run-of-the-mill backpack, and they need never know that your expensive laptop and other electronics are hidden inside.

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How To Use Find My Device In Windows 10

Microsoft introduced the Find My Device feature back in 2015. As the name suggests, its a helpful way to track down the approximate location of your laptop.

Its turned off by default, but if you enabled the feature before your laptop disappeared then youll be able to take a quick couple of steps to aid in its recovery.

For those unfamiliar with the service you can read our How to turn on Windows 10s Find My Device feature guide.

To track your laptop go to the Microsoft website and log in with your account.

Youll be presented with a list of your devices, so locate the one youre after and click on the Find my device option under its name.

Now Microsoft will search for the laptop and let you know, roughly, where it is, so long as its online. Theres also the option to secure the machine remotely by clicking the Lock button.

Report The Theft To The Authorities

Once youve taken steps to track your laptop, its time to let the authorities know what happened.

File a police report

It probably goes without saying that you should report the theft to the police. You can do this by calling or visiting your local police departments office, but youll also probably be able to file a theft report via their website.

Once the police approves your report, ask for a copy. Take note of the case number, the officer assigned to your report, and the police stations phone number. Youll need to provide this information to the other authorities, such as your insurance company and the laptop manufacturer.

Tell your bank

If you ever shop online, your credit card information might be saved on your laptop. Contact your bank immediately to freeze your cards and stop people from accessing your online accounts.

You should do this even if you encrypted your hard drive. Theres a good chance that doing so prevented the thieves from stealing your data, but its still better to be safe.

Once you notify your bank, theyll help monitor your accounts for suspicious activity. You should also keep a close eye on your bank statements for the next few months, just in case.

File a claim with your insurance company

If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you can file an insurance claim for your stolen laptop. Be prepared to provide that copy of your police reportyour insurance company will probably ask to see it.

Contact your computer manufacturer

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On Securing A Laptop From Theft

Combining a couple of these methods will definitely minimize the chances of your laptop being stolen. Implement the ones that you think are the most practical for your situation. After a few days, using them will become normal and youll do it without having to think about them at all. Hope this helps!

How To Track A Laptop After It’s Been Stolen

You can feel like your taking the best possible care of your laptop, but sometimes disaster strikes. If you misplace your device, or worse still it gets stolen, it can feel like the end of the world.

Your laptop is probably second only to your phone with regard to the personal data you have stored on it. Read what to do if your handset suffers the same fate here.

While its understandable that this would cause a lot of distress, all might not be lost. Both Microsoft and Apple have implemented features in their operating systems which mean you might be reunited with your laptop sooner than you could have expected.

This is by no means a guarantee, but these tips do at least put you in with a fighting chance.

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Ways To Personalize It

There are a couple of simple ways to personalize a laptop, making it unique to you. Getting a few laptop stickers is a simple way to make the machine unique and it makes it a lot more interesting too. While people could still take the stickers off if they steal the machine, it may be difficult to do without leaving marks on the finish and theyll probably just look for an easier target instead.

For a more permanent solution, use an engravement service, as long as the laptop has a metal case. There are plenty of custom engraving companies that will do it for a reasonable price and you can have whatever you like put on there. My iPad is engraved with my name, for example.

If you really want to guarantee that your laptop wont get stolen, just get your name and phone number engraved on it. This solution is very handy if you lose it as well because its easy to return to you.

Protect Your Laptop In Rainy Days

The weather is very unpredictable. If you travel outdoors or by bicycle during the rainy season, you should protect your laptop from the rain. Once it gets wet, your laptop is very likely to get damaged.

There are several ways to protect your laptop on a rainy day:

Make sure your laptop is turned off when you travel in the rainy season.

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Don’t Fall Victim To Laptop Theft

Don’t Be an Easy Target.

If you dont want your data compromised, dont be an easy target.

If you were to ask me 5 tips to protect again laptop theft, here’s what I would tell you: :

Final Thoughts On How To Protect Your Laptop From Physical Damage

I hope you found something useful in this little post of tips on how to protect your laptop from physical damage. As I mentioned in the intro, it is something I am often guilty of overlooking and have that chill when I hear the thud of my bag hitting the ground too hard.

Something else to bear in mind, always think about store the laptop when you are not using it. Try not to leave it on seats where you can sit on it, especially in a car when the sun could also cook it. Also, try not to leave it on the ground where someone may step on it.

As mentioned way back at the top of this post, it is basically common sense, but every now and again we can do with a refresher.

What about you, do you have any tips to add to this list? Maybe a story of how you once damaged your laptop, please share, let us know in the comments so we can learn from it, or just have a little giggle.

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Invest In A Good Quality Anti

Thieves and pickpockets are common problems in all major cities around the world. Wherever you go, you should always pay extra attention to protect your laptop and other personal belongings from thieves.

A quality bag for your laptop is one of the most important accessories you can invest in.

Good anti-theft laptop bags have a slightly different design from an ordinary backpack with many specialist security features to protect your device and laptop accessories, but the key ones they need are:

• An anti-theft lock
• Slash proof or cut-resistant material
• Locking cables for if you place it on the floor

When compared to a standard backpack, anti-theft models tend to be more expensive. However, in recent years demand has increased significantly so there are more options than ever and the price has come down considerably.

Also, its worth remembering replacing a stolen laptop will always be more expensive than a decent bag!

Another thing to often overlooked when choosing a laptop bag is that it will be able to protect your laptop from physical damage. Be sure to choose a bag with padding, especially on the bottom as bumps and shocks can damage the hard drive.

S To Protect Your Data In Case Of Computer Theft

Heres how to protect your information and yourself, critical for human rights defenders, in case of physical computer theft.

7 December 2015

Clear evidence of a break-in.

Last weekend, our headquarters in Geneva and the office of an ally organization were burglarized two of our desktop computers were stolen. The attending policewoman told us despite Switzerlands reputation as a crime-free country, there are up to 30 break-ins a day in Geneva. We thought being in an NGO building with restricted access and having standard doors was enough, but we will now also reinforce the doors and get metal bars.

Computers were the only stolen items at both of our offices, but its not possible to say whether the theft was specifically for information stored on the hard drives or just for the computers themselves. Either way, we can confidently say we have not experienced a data breach, because both of our Mac Minis were encrypted and locked with strong passwords. We also didnt lose any data, because its safely stored in Casebox.

Heres how to protect your information and yourself, critical for human rights defenders, in case of physical computer theft:

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How Can I Protect My Laptop From Being Stolen

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