AnotherHiggins
Technical User
First a story, then a question.
I consider myself to be pretty savvy when it comes to computer security (thanks in no small part to this forum).
I run AVG, ZoneAlarm, SpyBot's TeaTimer, SpywareBlaster and MS Windows Defender. At least once a month, I scan with SpyBot Search and Destroy, and AdAware. I also periodically clean up the registry with TweakNow RegCleaner.
I use multiple email addresses to limit the spammers access to my main personal account. I have picked up (and subsequently removed) a few tracking cookies, but other than that I haven't found anything malicious on my computer in a long, long time.
So far, so good, right?
I recently moved from an apartment to a house (the first time my wife or I have ever owned a home!). This was also the first time that I have hired movers to haul my stuff. So we got a truck and moved almost everything in a single load. We kept some stuff at the apartment that we wanted to move ourselves; things we didn't want to risk being damaged by the movers – two TVs, two desktops, two laptops, some China and other wedding gifts, etc.
We returned to the apartment the next morning to load up our cars and finish up only to discover that some *%?!ers had kicked our door in. They took my tower, but not my monitor or Monsoon flat panel speakers. They did take my wireless keyboard and mouse, but not the IR receiver that connects to the computer (heh). They took both laptops (both were kinda old, but still). (They also walked away with my brand new digital camera, my IPod, and a few other things including two beers – but that is off topic.) Luckily, they didn't take my wife's desktop. Of course, it is an old IBM Vista that is still running Windows 2K, but at least we still have *a* computer.
I completely failed to protect against one of the most basic, oldest threats to property.... Having it stolen. Like a complete idiot, I didn't even have a password to login as the Administrator. I mean, only my wife and I had access to the computer, so why bother, right?
Wrong.
We have had to cancel all of our credit cards and reset the passwords to all of the sites that we used the "remember me" feature on. I just hope that the *%?!ing &^#@ers don't find our SSNs anywhere on the hard drives.
I plan on building a new system in the next month or two. This time, I want to put in place a little more "real world" security. I have (since this happened) read about software you can install (before your computer is stolen) that can lockdown the hard drives if the computer is reported stolen.
So my question to the security gurus is this: what steps should I take to reduce the risk if my computer is ever stolen again?
[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]
Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.
I consider myself to be pretty savvy when it comes to computer security (thanks in no small part to this forum).
I run AVG, ZoneAlarm, SpyBot's TeaTimer, SpywareBlaster and MS Windows Defender. At least once a month, I scan with SpyBot Search and Destroy, and AdAware. I also periodically clean up the registry with TweakNow RegCleaner.
I use multiple email addresses to limit the spammers access to my main personal account. I have picked up (and subsequently removed) a few tracking cookies, but other than that I haven't found anything malicious on my computer in a long, long time.
So far, so good, right?
I recently moved from an apartment to a house (the first time my wife or I have ever owned a home!). This was also the first time that I have hired movers to haul my stuff. So we got a truck and moved almost everything in a single load. We kept some stuff at the apartment that we wanted to move ourselves; things we didn't want to risk being damaged by the movers – two TVs, two desktops, two laptops, some China and other wedding gifts, etc.
We returned to the apartment the next morning to load up our cars and finish up only to discover that some *%?!ers had kicked our door in. They took my tower, but not my monitor or Monsoon flat panel speakers. They did take my wireless keyboard and mouse, but not the IR receiver that connects to the computer (heh). They took both laptops (both were kinda old, but still). (They also walked away with my brand new digital camera, my IPod, and a few other things including two beers – but that is off topic.) Luckily, they didn't take my wife's desktop. Of course, it is an old IBM Vista that is still running Windows 2K, but at least we still have *a* computer.
I completely failed to protect against one of the most basic, oldest threats to property.... Having it stolen. Like a complete idiot, I didn't even have a password to login as the Administrator. I mean, only my wife and I had access to the computer, so why bother, right?
Wrong.
We have had to cancel all of our credit cards and reset the passwords to all of the sites that we used the "remember me" feature on. I just hope that the *%?!ing &^#@ers don't find our SSNs anywhere on the hard drives.
I plan on building a new system in the next month or two. This time, I want to put in place a little more "real world" security. I have (since this happened) read about software you can install (before your computer is stolen) that can lockdown the hard drives if the computer is reported stolen.
So my question to the security gurus is this: what steps should I take to reduce the risk if my computer is ever stolen again?
[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]
Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.