Your laptop generally has a lot of important and sensitive data which comprises of both your personal and business information. This is the main reason that you need to make sure that your data is not misused in case of a theft. Also, you might want to make it possible to retrieve your laptop after it is stolen.
Although there are a few paid premium services to help you protect and track your stolen laptop but there is an equally effective free alternative service available. Prey is a cross-platform, free open source anti-theft laptop recovery software that can potentially help you secure your data and track your laptop.
Prey Anti Theft software review
The first thing which needs to be done is installing prey on your laptop. Installing prey is a fairly simple process which is consistent with installing other applications on your computer. After it is installed it leaves practically no trace on your computer and sits quietly in the background and cannot be detected in the activity manager.
Once prey is installed on your computer it is paired to an online account which can be accessed through a regular browser. You can use this account to configure and monitor the various alert and security settings as per your requirements.
How To Recover Stolen Laptop/Phone
As soon as your laptop goes missing you need to alert Prey using your online account. It can subsequently monitor and track your laptop through this account. As soon as a missing laptop is reported, prey’s service jumps into action. The next time your stolen laptop connects to the internet, it sends back valuable information from the laptop.
This information includes a list of running applications, detailed Wi-Fi and network information, a screenshot of the desktop and if your laptop has an integrated webcam – then a picture of the person using the computer. You will receive regular email notifications as long as the laptop is connected to the internet. Prey provides additional security features which can help you erase sensitive data, lock down your computer and also send a message to the person using the laptop.
Prey also provides a premium paid option which provides you access to more detailed and real-time reports and other add-on benefits. One of the major shortcomings of Prey is that it can be uninstalled by a tech-savvy thief in the same way a regular application is uninstalled. Also since it is not embedded in the BIOS, like some of its paid counterparts, therefore it can be rendered useless in case the hard disk is formatted.
VERDICT
Prey is a good application to have on your mobile computers and phones. It enhances your chances of protecting your data and retrieving back your stolen laptop/phones. Most importantly, it is free and open source. You can download and read about Prey on its
official page here.
