Laptops are everywhere, for school, for work, and even just for fun. But having a machine turn up missing, either through the malfeasance of the owner, or through theft, can be a nightmare. While we'd love it if posted signs around campus could rumble up a graduate student's machine, we're more confident in law enforcement than a Sharpie marker. Read on, as we talk about theft recovery of laptops, and how you can get your data back.

How does it work?

The basic principle behind theft recovery is that an unwitting thief will connect the computer to the internet, without knowing the machine has been installed with some sort of anti-theft software or device. Right now, the technology is sort of crude, in that most solutions are software only. That should change soon, however, as a few different companies are working on integrating GPS and cellular data connections with anti-theft options, essentially tracking a thief and sending the location of the stolen laptop in realtime. Oh yeah, and there's also the ability to send a text message to disable the system. Pretty interesting stuff.

While those solutions are still under development, expected to hit sometime in the second half of 2009, there are a few software solutions that users can check out to try to track down a laptop thief.

DIY

While we're normally big proponents of doing things yourself, laptop theft and recovery is something we're less inclined to recommend users try themselves. That being said, we'll explain the basic principles behind software-based recovery, and how you can help track down your laptop.

The most basic method of tracking down a lost system is tracking its network location. To do that, you'll have to know your system's IP address. Since an IP address changes dependent on network, you'll have to have a way for your machine to "phone home" and let you know where it is. That's where software from DynDNS.com comes into play.

Initially, DynDNS was created to allow users to create hostnames that are reachable from any location on the web. For example, if a user wanted to set up a server on a home network, but didn't have the infrastructure to custom host their own .com domain name, a user could use DynDNS software to create a memorable hostname like http://thisismylaptopcomputer.dyndns.com/ and then load up a web server, or any other server on that machine. DynDNS works by sending the local machine's IP address to the DynDNS server, which then matches the thisismylaptop.dyndns.com domain to the computer's IP address.

Fortunately, every time the computer connects to the internet, DynDNS auto updates that IP address and process is logged, allowing the user to know exactly which IP address the computer is using. A user could then perform a basic command like traceroute to see the network hop immediately above the laptop, and the use a geolocation IP service, like HostIP.info, which could provide more information about the local whereabouts of the laptop. Then, the theft victim could work with local law enforcement to try to nail down the location of the laptop.

If you have other DIY solutions, we'd love to hear them. Sound off in the comments to help everyone protect their own laptops.

Paid options

DIY seems like a lot of guess work and hope to track down a stolen laptop, right? Not only that, but there's no guarantee that a user has set up the software correctly, not to mention that the hard drive could be copied multiple times, making other things like ID theft more likely. To get a bit of extra piece of mind, it's going to cost a couple bucks.

Undercover

One of our favorite Mac-exclusive solutions is Undercover from Orbicule software. One of the most comprehensive laptop annoyers around, Undercover takes the first step of sending network location info, and then takes it to another level by sending screenshots of the Mac at regular intervals. Ideally, eventually one of those screenshots should identify the thief by providing an email address or some other form of information.

It doesn't quit there, though, the software then takes a picture using the built-in iSight camera every 6 minutes. If there isn't enough information sent to Orbicule to recover the machine, the team will then trigger a "hardware" failure, by gradually darkening the screen so that the machine appears to be broken. Orbicule says this action will trigger the thief to take the machine to a repair shop, or sell the machine on eBay. At that point, once the machine is opened, Undercover will show a full screen message stating that the machine has been stolen and that it has become unusable and needs to be returned as soon as possible. The machine will also use text-to-speech to shout the message loudly over the built-in speakers.

All this is dependent on the system being connected to the Internet at some point after the owner has contacted Orbicule and marked the machine as "stolen." If the laptop is recovered, Orbicule can remotely reset the machine and it'll go on as normal. The software costs $49 and comes with a money back guarantee if a laptop isn't recovered.

LoJack for Laptops

You might have heard of LoJack before, it's an auto theft recovery system that helps law enforcement track down and recover a vehicle. LoJack has a good reputation for helping car owners get their cars back, so they've extended the brand to laptops.

LoJack for Laptops is actually made by a company called Absolute software, which specializes in laptop theft recovery. LoJack for Laptops works similarly to Undercover, but takes the principles to their logical extreme. For instance, LoJack for Laptops' biggest feature, in our opinion, is the ability to build the software right into the BIOS. Rather than having to rely on a thief to not format a hard drive or otherwise tamper with a computer, LoJack for Laptops partnered with a variety of laptop manufacturers listed on their website to install something called "Computrace" in the BIOS of many machines. That means it can phone home regardless of whether the hard drive is intact or not.

Absolute software staffs a group of ex-cops to help recover laptops. The team is based in Vancouver, and according to a Forbes article singing the praises of Laptop LoJack, the group of people work with local law enforcement to track down criminals directly. The company says local law enforcement is willing to act on an electronic tip because it's an easy case, but also because five percent of the time other criminal activity happens wherever the laptop is kept.

The service costs $90 for three years of protection, and will work whether the BIOS software exists or not.

Security vs Recovery

All these solutions are great starts, but what's the real answer to keeping secure if a laptop is stolen? If you're concerned enough to pay for Laptop LoJack, think about being more secure in the first place. We'd encourage security conscious users to install drive level encryption to help prevent data theft. While it's not completely foolproof, the built-in drive encryption schemes in Mac OS 10.5 Lepoard and Microsoft Windows Vista provide additional security should a machine be compromised. Also, to prevent someone from being able to use a machine when stolen, do the basics like set a password on a user account that needs to be entered when the computer is turned on.

Hopefully if you take these measures, and even couple them with one of the paid solutions, you should be good to go with securing your machine. If you've got some tips or services we didn't mention, be sure to sound off in the comments with your method for staying safe from thieves.

[Image credit: Header image from Flickr user pcorrellia. Used via Creative Commons.]