I make a point of securing stuff even though it is insured just because I hate the thought that thieves got away with it. I have modified a few appliances at home so that if you unplug them they will not work again unless you know the trick. (this is a bit of a hassle after a power failure when I have to “reactivate” everything)
My TV and VCR are chained to a radiator. My computer is also securely chained. The only thing I have here free to take is the laptop which is possibly the item they would be most interested in. So, I am thinking of securing my laptop, here and when I travel. Let’s talk about it.
Those locks they sell that fit into a tiny hole in the laptop case are expensive and I get the impression they wouldn’t do much. A good jerk would probably loosen it and damage the case minimally. Anyone have any experience / opinions on this?
I am considering drilling a hole and passing a steel cable through it. If I can do this carefully I can make a loop which, I think would be more secure for a padlock than the above commercial solution.
Then I have another idea which i think would be the best and I wish I could buy it. Imagine a rectangular piece of metal folded in two places so it takes the shape of a U. At the bottom of the U two holes spaced apart so you can put two screws into the (say) video connector. This is very solidly anchored to the metal chassis of the computer. So now you have the two branches of the U sticking out horizontally from the rear of the computer. Drill a hole through them and you can put a padlock through. To prevent the screws from being unscrewed you make a block of metal that fits between the branches of the U and has a hole for the padlock. That way it cannot be removed without removing the padlock first.
To me this seems extremely simple and effective. Has anybody seen something like this? I have searched but not found it. If ayone has seen it I would like to know where I can find it.
It should be fairly easy to build for anyone with access to basic shop machinery. If someone can do it and has interest in doing it I would be happy to do the drawings with dimensions.
If I cannot get this I think I will go the route of drilling a hole into it and passing a steel cable.
Have you looked inside a laptop? I don’t think you can drill through anywere without causing damage. I like your other idea, but I haven’t seen such a product on the market.
If I were that worried about theft, and not worried about resale value of the laptop, I’d epoxy a flat steel plate to the back side of the laptop with 1/2 inch or so sticking out the rear or side. Drill a hole in this ‘lip’ and pass a cable or padlock through. If you choose the proper epoxy, it should be very difficult to remove the plate without damaging the case.
Either way, I think the weakest link would be the cable, not the attachment point to the laptop.
Dude, that ‘tiny hole’ is a fortified anchor point in the steel frame of the laptop. They’re not going to break it without destroying the entire machine.
And if you epoxied a plate to the bottom, no more upgrades.
Sailor – we’ve had a few laptops stolen from our office building in the past month or two, and they have all been cable locked. The perp just used a bolt cutter.
One thing I have heard about that you might be interested in, is a Lo-Jack type of thing… for your laptop! You install this software and register it online, apparently. If it gets stolen and you report it in, the next time the perp logs into the Internet, the software connects and notifies the company of where the laptop is being connected from…
I’ll have to try to find the name of the company.
As for snarly dogs and big guns – both of them can get you sued big-time. It may be a big joke to you but I didn’t see a there, Zen.
I thought I was supposed to chain the computer to the big snarly dog so no one could get close to it and then use the gun to shoot the dog when I needed to use the computer
Homer, it may be that the hole is supposed to be "fortified"but it sure as hell don’t look like it in mine. Looks like a plain little hole in the plastic case.
baglady, yes, I am aware nothing will resist boltcutters. i had an extension ladder recently stolen from my yard and they cut a big padlock.
I am trying to provide a reasonable amount of protection. If burglars enter my home and the computer is free they have no trouble taking it. But if it is attached with a thin steel cable, they probably don’t have the boltcutters handy or the time to mess. In any case it’s a deterrent.
Ii have heard about that software program but you have to sign up and pay. I don’t understand why there is not a similar program which will just send an email to your own email address without having to sign up with anybody.
The trick is to make the program stealthy enough that the new “owner” does not detect it.
I am thinking… If I tie down the laptop plus I pull out the hard disk and hide it, probably the cable plus seeing the disk bay empty would discourage a thief. Even if they took it I would be happier knowing they got little value for themselves.
**sailor ** noted: *“I am thinking… If I tie down the laptop plus I pull out the hard disk and hide it, probably the cable plus seeing the disk bay empty would discourage a thief. Even if they took it I would be happier knowing they got little value for themselves.” *
You got the right idea, sailor. Your laptop IS replaceable; I suspect you would miss your data far more than you would miss the hardware. I’d say “back everything up” and pull out your hard drive. That way your data is safe.
Well, I am dismantling things and I see the battery compartment communicates with the hard disk compartment and so I could pull both out and thread a fairly substantial cable through. It is a pain to do that very often but it would work when I travel. It is something I can do once or twice a day.
I am thinking also when I travel… if I leave the laptop in the hotel room chained to something substantial, the covers hidden out of sight, and the hard disk in the safe, the value of the laptop like that would make it not worth taking.
Yes the data is the most valuable thing but I do have most of it in my home computer and even that has an extra disk for backup so I have about 3 copies of pretty much everything.
I want to discourage theft and if it happens make sure they get as little value as possible. (Both things go together)
I dont see why anyone would go thru that much trouble…
I mean if you have a breakin and they steal everything… do you really think itll make you feel any better that they had to work harder for it than they would have next door?
And if you ppl break in and realize that the place they hit is like fort fucking knox and everything is secured and tied down and so on… you really think theyre just gonna be like… “oh well…” and leave? dude theyre gonna trash your place and trash it GOOD! so im just wondering… is it really worth all the trouble? and is it benefitting you in any way at all?
Skümmet brings up a good point about trashing your place. If they know they’re gonna come out empty handed, then that’s just all the more reason to ransack and destroy the place. Plus, once they know you have a laptop, they can just come back another day with bolt cutters and snatch it. So you might be better off hiding it, rather than leaving it vulnerable.
Yea, I have a suggestion. Move to a better part of town.
But seriously, folks. I have been shopping for a laptop (ahem…picking up my brand new 2000 Ibook on Monday, 466 mhz with a DVD… [happy dance])and have looked at this question a lot, as I plan to use my computer in the library a lot. For me and the ibook, as it has an attached metal handle, I was advised to buy a bike lock and loop it through the handle. However, before I found out about that (cheaper and more effective than the notebook locks), I was seriously looking at the Targus Defcon 1. This baby is like the other notebook locks, except that it has a motion sensor on it. When activated, it lets loose a 110 decible scream of alarm. To give you an idea of how loud that is, 85 dbs is the level at which OSCA demands employers provide hearing mufflers at factories. And it’s $50, which is like $20 more than a regular cable lock.
Sure, a theif could still cut the bolt and run, but 110 dbs might give them pause, scare the shit out of them, and cause them to run before touching the rest of your stuff.
Skümmet, I would appreciate a more polite tone when you address me. I am looking for useful information, not your rants. Having said that…
Home burglars do not have much time, they need to get in and out fast. They will grab what they can and run. As I have pointed out, everything is covered by insurance so I do not care whether they take it or break it but, if they get no use I prefer it. Call me human if you like. Not to mention another thing: if burglars know stuff is secured in this house they are likely to not even try.
I did have a break in a few years back and when they saw the TV and VCR were chained (they turned them around before realizing it) they just left them there and they did not trash anything. But even if they did the insurance will pay for the damage. I just prefer they get no use out of their burglary. If burglaries were less productive there would be fewer of them.
Same thing in a hotel. A chained laptop with no hard disk and no covers for the hard disk and battery compartments is much less likely to be stolen as its resale value decreases exponentially.
Im not sure how im being rude to you… if you wouldnt mind explaining?
I say whats on my mind, and i honestly didnt see anything being particularly unpolite…
Anywho… i would like to know your reason behind
as i see it it would actually have the opposite effect wouldnt it?
Speaking from experience libraries are real bad places to leave laptops (or anything else) unattended for even a brief period. You might also want to think about getting an external USB CDRW drive. They are around 240 (8x units are about 100 more) for a 4x4x6 and will do a great (and relatively cheap) job of backing up critical data if your unit is stolen. A laptop case that is able to be used backpack style (there are several styles out here) may also be of some use as it would allow you to carry the unit on your back while you while you went to the bathroom or searched for a reference. Anything with a cable can be cut.
Since nobody else has thought of this, there must be something fundamentally wrong with the idea:
Here at work there are many laptops that have untold thousands of dollars of WAN management software on them. This software allows you to take T3s, OC48s and bigger trunks out of service for testing & maintenance. Needless to say, these must be locked down securely at all times, otherwise I imagine Lex Luthor may get hold of one and cause major nationwide panic.
All these laptops sit in a docking station which securely hugs the device and has one of those special locks that uses a cylindrical key (like the ones used to open Kryptonite™ bike locks). When locked, two hefty steel pins engage the laptop on both sides. I don’t see any way of getting the device free short of a crowbar or high explosives.
The one pictured in my link looks a little cheesy, I just included it for those who don’t know what a docking station looks like. The station (at least the ones we have here) has openings in the rear that are large enough to pass a heavy chain through (although we just bolt them to the desks here) and it’s made out of (what I believe is) die-cast aluminum.
You’ll need to see if the manufacturer of your laptop makes a docking station that offers such a high level of security; I suspect most are made simply for the purposes of docking and don’t take security into account.
After a little checking, I see that Kryptonite offers some security devices for laptops. I don’t see a docking station, but they do have something called KryptoVault, which looks like the next best thing (I can’t link to that page; use the link to Kryptonite™ and click on the products link, then select computers.
Most computer stores that I’ve been to have their laptops secured by being attached in a metal frame bolted down to the fixture. The laptops are secured by a very long-shanked padlock that runs in front of the hinge of the laptop. It seems very secure, though you may have difficulty getting to the battery, CDROM drive, etc.
I realize that it doesn’t answer the travel question, byt you may want to go to a computer store that has these security devices and ask the manager there where they got them.
there, Zen.