I came across this software which you install on your computer and if it ever get’s stolen it’ll send you an e-mail with it’s IP address once a day or everytime it connects to the internet. Seems like a really good idea. The question is… How does the computer know that it’s stolen? Does it just send the e-mail everyday regardless? I can’t think of anyway off the top of my head that it would know that anything is different.
I followed the link you provide and found this:
So it apparently sends the email message whether it’s stolen or not.
That’s what I figured. I suppose you could set up a “junk” type email address from hotmail and have it send them there until theres a problem. Otherwise it could be rather annoying. But overall I have to say it seems like a really good idea.
The blindfold and the long car ride are dead giveaways.
FYI you still have to check the account every few weeks, they close the account if its not checked every 30 days or so.
It would be better if you just had to disable it from emailing every day. It might be better if you could change it to only send it once a week. That would be better than getting an email everyday.
You could do what I do with my current hotmail account. I have it set to only accept mail from people I put on a list. Then I don’t put anyone on the list. Also I have outlook express set to check that account along with a few others accounts that I have. That way I never receive any mail on that account and since I check it everyday it doesn’t get deleted.
The program could be linked up with that account and if the computer was ever stolen you can just go and take the filters off the account to let the mail come through.
Isn’t it rather obvious that if someone stole your computer (say a laptop) that they would probably just wipe the hard drive and reinstall the system? IANAThief but if I were, that’s what I’d do. If the point of stealing something is to sell it or get money, you’d want to make it look like a brand new computer. Who wants to use a computer filled with someone else’s clutter.
Sounds like a silly product to me.
According to the website it can survive your hard drive being wiped. Apparently it can only be erased by use of a special uninstall program.
Fdisking or formatting may not be desirable if a thief wants to resell an OEM computer. But…
I find this claim highly dubious. I wish I had a copy to test, if it is just software I bet that I could remove it from any PC in less than a half hour. Without fdisking or formatting the drive, it may take longer, but probably also doable.