How to Secure Your New Laptop

Set Up a BIOS password., Use Lol Alarm for alarm security., Safeguard your data with Laptop Lock., Encrypt your data with Truecrypt., Detect motion using your webcam with Yawcam., Protect your Mac laptop with iAlertU and Lockdown., Track your stolen...

7 Steps 3 min read Medium

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Step 1: Set Up a BIOS password.

    This is a trick that a lot of computer owners fail to use.

    To make breaking into your laptop harder, you can set up a BIOS password.

    These are harder to crack.

    Just make sure that you don’t forget your password! , If you own a Windows laptop and you're worried about potential theft, you can use this security software to set different types of alarms.

    With LAlarm, you will be able to set a theft alarm, perimeter alarm, battery alarm, inattention alarm and disk alarm.

    If you're always on the move, you can easily misplace or forget about your laptop but through using these features, you'll find that the laptop calls for your attention (if you set it to) whenever you leave it idle for a specified amount of time.

    Another great feature that comes with this software is its data destruction and recovery facility.

    This means that you can set up your system to pretty much self-destruct (well, at least your data), in the event that the laptop is lost or stolen.
  2. Step 2: Use Lol Alarm for alarm security.

    Whether you have sensitive company data or personal information on your laptop, protecting your PC from possible theft is important.

    Theft can happen at any time, and typically occurs when you least expect it.

    You can’t trust that the person who has “found” your laptop will not hack into it or refrain from using the data in a malicious way.

    Using this software, you can encrypt your data, safeguard it or even delete it, should your laptop be stolen.

    All you have to do is go to the website and report your laptop stolen; you can choose what you want to have done with the data. , Just as in the ancient days when the rich would hide their loot in crypts, you can use Truecrypt to build your own virtual crypt.

    In the digital age, this works through the process of encryption, which will make it so that no one can open any of the files or documents on your computer should they happen to make away with your laptop. , Your webcam can be used for more than just taking photos, recording videos and having live video chats.

    It can also be tasked to be a motion detector.

    Yawcam software can transform your webcam into a motion detector, which can be used to see if and when people are trying to access your laptop.

    What’s even better is that you can have it automatically email you or have FTP uploads of the images that are captured. , If you have Macs, use software like iAlertU and Lockdown for Mac to safeguard your data.

    The potential threat of thieves diminishes because of the alarm features that this software comes with.

    You will have a feature called iSight, which uses your webcam to detect motion. , If you really want to find your laptop once it’s lost or stolen, then you need software like Prey.

    This can be used for mobile devices that are using Windows, Linux, Mac or Android.

    Other than using GPS to track your device, you can also auto connect to it using a wireless connection.

    This will send a remote signal using the Internet or SMS, which will then enable you to locate your laptop, lock it down and monitor what the thief is doing on it.
  3. Step 3: Safeguard your data with Laptop Lock.

  4. Step 4: Encrypt your data with Truecrypt.

  5. Step 5: Detect motion using your webcam with Yawcam.

  6. Step 6: Protect your Mac laptop with iAlertU and Lockdown.

  7. Step 7: Track your stolen laptop with Prey.

Detailed Guide

This is a trick that a lot of computer owners fail to use.

To make breaking into your laptop harder, you can set up a BIOS password.

These are harder to crack.

Just make sure that you don’t forget your password! , If you own a Windows laptop and you're worried about potential theft, you can use this security software to set different types of alarms.

With LAlarm, you will be able to set a theft alarm, perimeter alarm, battery alarm, inattention alarm and disk alarm.

If you're always on the move, you can easily misplace or forget about your laptop but through using these features, you'll find that the laptop calls for your attention (if you set it to) whenever you leave it idle for a specified amount of time.

Another great feature that comes with this software is its data destruction and recovery facility.

This means that you can set up your system to pretty much self-destruct (well, at least your data), in the event that the laptop is lost or stolen.

Whether you have sensitive company data or personal information on your laptop, protecting your PC from possible theft is important.

Theft can happen at any time, and typically occurs when you least expect it.

You can’t trust that the person who has “found” your laptop will not hack into it or refrain from using the data in a malicious way.

Using this software, you can encrypt your data, safeguard it or even delete it, should your laptop be stolen.

All you have to do is go to the website and report your laptop stolen; you can choose what you want to have done with the data. , Just as in the ancient days when the rich would hide their loot in crypts, you can use Truecrypt to build your own virtual crypt.

In the digital age, this works through the process of encryption, which will make it so that no one can open any of the files or documents on your computer should they happen to make away with your laptop. , Your webcam can be used for more than just taking photos, recording videos and having live video chats.

It can also be tasked to be a motion detector.

Yawcam software can transform your webcam into a motion detector, which can be used to see if and when people are trying to access your laptop.

What’s even better is that you can have it automatically email you or have FTP uploads of the images that are captured. , If you have Macs, use software like iAlertU and Lockdown for Mac to safeguard your data.

The potential threat of thieves diminishes because of the alarm features that this software comes with.

You will have a feature called iSight, which uses your webcam to detect motion. , If you really want to find your laptop once it’s lost or stolen, then you need software like Prey.

This can be used for mobile devices that are using Windows, Linux, Mac or Android.

Other than using GPS to track your device, you can also auto connect to it using a wireless connection.

This will send a remote signal using the Internet or SMS, which will then enable you to locate your laptop, lock it down and monitor what the thief is doing on it.

About the Author

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Susan Flores

Enthusiastic about teaching organization techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.

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