How to 'protect' a Macbook Air while at college?

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VanFanel89

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My sister got a brand new 13" Macbook Air for college due to its obviously sole benefit - cake cutting oh and light weightiness.

Unfortunately, it does not come with the standard locking port that you can use with cables/lock combos. Thus, even though we drilled it into her to ensure it is with her at all times, or at least hidden, I'd like to have some sort of a method to 'protect' it - install something that I can remote access without it being obvious (and by obvious I mean LogMeIn obvious).

Any recommendations?

Thanks!
 
You can turn on iCloud's "Find my Mac" feature which lets you geolocate the computer, and optionally remotely wipe all data from it. That's built into OS X. Or if you actually need to spy on your sister with some sort of backdoor, I'm not sure what to recommend.
 
Yeah, there's Find My Mac, from iCloud. Another option is something called Undercover, by Orbicule. I've never used it, but I've heard Leo Laporte recommend it to people looking for LoJack type software for their PCs. There's an open source project, called "Prey" that might have a lot of the same features, but I don't know much about it, and have never used it.
 
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I use iTeleport to take control of my Mac at home from my iPhone or iPad anywhere. It's basically a brain dead simple VNC client that uses the Mac's built-in screen sharing, along with your Google account for authentication, to make sure you can always get to it from the internet. It's pretty good at remote desktopping in my experience. There's no on-screen indication at all that there is something accessing it, so the only way they can know it's being watched is if you accidentally move the mouse or press a key. Or if you wake the Mac up or light up the screen while a potential thief is looking.

Another option for remote desktop is Back to my Mac, which you can use on any Mac to remote into her Mac. That requires keeping both Macs signed into the same iCloud account, though.

As for stuff specifically dedicated to tracking lost/stolen Macs, besides the built in Find My Mac, there was a story last year about a guy who recovered his MacBook using pictures of the thief taken by the software he had installed.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/229410/stolen_macbook_recovered_via_tweets_photos_of_thief.html

The app from that article: http://hiddenapp.com/
 
I just make sure that my MBA never leaves my sight. Maybe your sister can do that? :confused:

If dorm room security is the issue, then the aforementioned laptop tracking software can help. I have Prey installed, but ... the free version of the software doesn't seem to phone home enough to make it worth keeping, pending additional testing.
 
Also, be sure it is covered under your homeowner's insurance while she's at school. The chances of it being damaged by someone spilling a beer on it, getting it crushed between heavy books, or stolen are all pretty decent when considering a 4-year timespan.
 
Never leave it in the dorm room during a fire drill/alarm, even with the door locked. I speak from experience.
 
Thanks for the insight, gents. We have drilled it into her to never leave it with out her; there are talks about getting a mini safe. Security in the dorms is extremely tight, though - they have keycard access, then a key to access the suite door, and a key to access their own door. Nevertheless... there are crafty people out there!

I'll check out the prey project!
 
Grentz said:
http://preyproject.com/
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This +1000

I honestly completely forget it's on my laptop sometimes.

General dorm security tips:
- Don't leave door propped. Even while showering, fire drill, etc. never. Like meth, not even once. This was the biggest cause of theft in the dorms. Me and my friends would props ours when we were home and that's it, but if I were female (because rape) I would never leave it propped, ever. Police alert emails of theft would usually start with "student left door propped while..."
- don't be a slut, know the people you are bringing back to your place, and always be the last to pass out at your own place/kick everyone out when your going to sleep. 2nd biggest cause. People falling asleep and randoms, or even "friends" at larger gatherings, taking their shit. My roommate got his Xbox stolen because we let a someone we didn't know crash on our couch (I was long asleep when this decision was made, luckily all my important shit stayed locked in my room)


Oh and SETUP TIME MACHINE! If there's anything more important than the laptop, it's the data that is on it. Trust me, she would rather have to rewrite one page on a paper on a library computer than start from scratch if it were to go missing. And time machine is automatic and dummy proof, as long as she can plug in a USB drive or leave it with net access to connect to a server.
 
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Eagle923 said:
You could try THIS

A tad expensive, but so is the laptop.
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$70 is not expensive at all. Sounds like that solves the lock problem.

Use a screensaver password to keep amateurs at bay. Look into Filevault if you want and leave the master password at home.
 
I know you would feel better with it locked, but it really doesn't make that much of a difference. Trust me, I bought a cable lock for my MBP. After the first week of keeping it locked to my desk and having to unlock it everytime I brought it to class, I ended up just not using it anymore. It's much more effective to be smart about keeping your entire room secure than one object inside it. Most dorm doors are massive and impractical to bust down without a sledge hammer. Keep it locked and get maintanence on it (they are usually on point with door lock issues, since it is a major security and safety concern) if her door is sticking and not shutting by itself when closed.

If her roommate is a problem, leaving the door propped, etc. Tell her to talk about it with her (in a civilized manner) and if that doesn't work, I'd go ahead and lock it up anyway.

People suggesting a safe: it's a good idea, but there really is no place to secure a safe in a dorm room, and moving one in and out that would be too heavy to carry, is well...a pain. Lock boxes can just be carried off for later breaking.
 
I agree that locks don't help anyone unless they are actually used. If your sister doesn't use the lock, then having one won't matter.

Basically Absentee hit it on the head. Most of it just comes down to practices and awareness. If she's at school to study, doesn't party, and makes sure her stuff is secure, she'll be fine (theft-wise.)
 
I have recovered my MBP with Prey from a pawn shop when I left it in a sound booth at a concert - the owners weren't to pleased when I showed them a picture of one of their employees using the machine and gave them the serial number of my unit.

+1 prey
 
Thanks for all the advice, gents! My sister is well aware about the whole 'keep shit locked, doors locked, etc.' - and her roomates are def. not the problem. But once in a while you just forget, you know? I think Prey would work best... I'll be checking it out this weekend. But please - keep it comin'!
 
Best advice is to keep it in Sight.... if the theif knows what they are doing, the programs wont make much difference.
 
Absentee said:
General dorm security tips:
- Don't leave door propped. Even while showering, fire drill, etc. never. Like meth, not even once. This was the biggest cause of theft in the dorms. Me and my friends would props ours when we were home and that's it, but if I were female (because rape) I would never leave it propped, ever. Police alert emails of theft would usually start with "student left door propped while..."
- don't be a slut, know the people you are bringing back to your place, and always be the last to pass out at your own place/kick everyone out when your going to sleep. 2nd biggest cause. People falling asleep and randoms, or even "friends" at larger gatherings, taking their shit. My roommate got his Xbox stolen because we let a someone we didn't know crash on our couch (I was long asleep when this decision was made, luckily all my important shit stayed locked in my room)
Click to expand...

I think this is the best post of the thread so far. I was AMAZED at the stupid things people would do at college, like leaving their doors propped open while in the shower (what is the point?????), while doing laundry, etc. I think the thieves would target those people rather than the people who use common sense and, you know, lock their doors when they're not in their rooms.
 
VanFanel89 said:
Thanks for the insight, gents. We have drilled it into her to never leave it with out her; there are talks about getting a mini safe. Security in the dorms is extremely tight, though - they have keycard access, then a key to access the suite door, and a key to access their own door. Nevertheless... there are crafty people out there!

I'll check out the prey project!
Click to expand...

Get a Pacsafe backup for it.
 
NateTX said:
Also, be sure it is covered under your homeowner's insurance while she's at school. The chances of it being damaged by someone spilling a beer on it, getting it crushed between heavy books, or stolen are all pretty decent when considering a 4-year timespan.
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I'd never make such a claim for a cheap item being stolen. Homeowner's insurance is not designed to be used to cover consumable items like laptops.

Oh, you'll get the claim paid, but you WILL pay more for that laptop rather than buying a new one. People seem to think insurance is somehow free money when you need it. They make money off people, and they would make money off you if you made a claim on a $1,000 laptop.
 
Radical said:
I think this is the best post of the thread so far. I was AMAZED at the stupid things people would do at college, like leaving their doors propped open while in the shower (what is the point?????), while doing laundry, etc. I think the thieves would target those people rather than the people who use common sense and, you know, lock their doors when they're not in their rooms.
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and the worst part is in many universities, such locations are easily accessible for outsiders.
 
If you have to worth this much about a tool, and that is all it is, then you got the wrong one.
 
AQ_OC said:
If you have to worth this much about a tool, and that is all it is, then you got the wrong one.
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You know, $1000 bucks is a lot of money for some people. Hell, $300 for a cheapo laptop is still a lot of money for some people, especially someone in college or someone paying for someone to go to college, and it makes sense to protect it, so troll elsewhere. I was just as concerned with protecting my old $30 flip phone as well. So why don't you tell me where you live and leave all your "tools" out to take my pick? I treat my camera as just a tool, toss it around, etc, but I would NEVER leave it unsecured and out for anyone to steal, and I take proper precautions to make sure that doesn't happen. Honestly your attitude towards how someone else should (or shouldn't) protect their stuff is appalling, and obvious you came in here just to say "you got the wrong laptop" so again, troll elsewhere.

You know what else is contained in this "tool?" HUNDREDS of hours worth of work, thousands of photos and memories, and access to tons of personal information. Hardly JUST a tool, and definitely something worth protecting.
 
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Nobody worries about a $300 cheapo like they will a $1200 laptop that is deemed a hot item. The kid is a kid and kids make mistakes, no matter how much you drill them. If you can't handle it, get a less expensive laptop.

Protect your information with backups. Losing it is your own fault.
 
AQ_OC said:
Nobody worries about a $300 cheapo like they will a $1200 laptop that is deemed a hot item. The kid is a kid and kids make mistakes, no matter how much you drill them. If you can't handle it, get a less expensive laptop.

Protect your information with backups. Losing it is your own fault.
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The point is, it's not your laptop to deem "too valuable" for whoever owns it and say they should get something else. I was a "kid" with a brand new MBP my freshman year and I still have it to this day, I was a "kid" making mistakes in college but because I knew what precautions to take, none were catastrophic and I still have all my shit (and I'm still alive, speaking of mistakes...) Which is the entire point of this thread, good practices to keep her shit. Not to tell him that they should have gotten something cheaper so she didn't have to worry about it being stolen.

Backups keep your data, it doesn't prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands. Yes you can encrypt it and password the user account, but a better idea is to protect your device no matter if it's a free pentium 2 laptop or a brand new retina MBP. A better idea is to keep good practices for securing it, not say "oh it's too cheap why would anyone want it? I don't need to lock my room at night, etc."

And then there is the hassle of replacing a stolen device or finding alternative "tools" to do work on.

Seriously, by your logic nobody should ever have anything nice because it could possibly get lost/damaged/stolen. Or we should never get anything desirable by others because someone might want to steal it and an 18 year old "kid" is not responsible enough to protect their stuff:)rolleyes: ). So again, you just came into this thread to say "you bought the wrong laptop" out of jealousy, spite, or just plain trolling.


OP made a thread asking for tips on how to make sure a new laptop doesn't get stolen, and your answer is "should have bought something cheaper that nobody would want!". Seriously?
 
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I think the thieves would target those people rather than the people who use common sense and, you know, lock their doors when they're not in their rooms.
 
GamingWithTony said:
I think the thieves would target those people rather than the people who use common sense and, you know, lock their doors when they're not in their rooms.
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Or in my case, you get a Rouge RA who decides to use the master key to go *christmas shopping* while everyone's away.

Bottom line is that the more steps you take, the lower your risk becomes. That said, if they're determined, they'll get it regardless.


Thieves suck :/
 
Never leave the door unlocked. Put the thing in your sock drawer when you aren't home. Dorm thieves are usually just grabbing laptops off desks. Rarely do people have their room robbed completely. Out of sight = assumed she took it with her.
 
Anyone with some computer knowledge could pop the harddrive outta that macbook pro in under 15minutes. Hows your tracking program going to protect you then?

I would say never let it leave your sight, and lock all your doors during parties (have had friends macbooks stolen during parties a few times). The only time I would ever leave my laptop in the library in college is if I had someone watch it for me that I knew.
 
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