Stop That Laptop Thief!

More than 1 million laptops are stolen or lost every year, increasing the risk of loss of personal data and other confidential information. If you own a laptop, you have, at minimum, a 1 in 15 chance that it will be lost or stolen. Here's a tip on preventing such theft and recovering your lost or stolen laptop.

Popular places for laptop theft are airports, hotel lobbies, coffee shops, college campuses, and vehicles. Unfortunately, 97% of lost or stolen laptops are never recovered. Laptops are fairly easy to sell. But for a smart thief, they represent a huge payday because such an individual knows how to access and sell the personal information on your laptop.

Fortunately, there are a number of laptop alarm and tracking programs to help you recover your laptop. One that really caught my interest is LocateMyLaptop.com. There is a free version that allows you to view your laptop's location on Google Maps (limited to one laptop). The paid version, which is $3 per month, allows you to both monitor the location of and remotely shred data on an unlimited number of laptops.