Digital Home Thoughts: Using Prey to Track Your Laptop or Android Phone

"Laptops are lighter and more powerful than ever; they're also easier to steal. Luckily, a genuinely versatile and powerful track-and-recover applications is also free. Here's how Prey works, and how it could save you a month's rent in new laptop cost.

There are obvious reasons to like Prey. Chief among them, it's free to use for up to three devices of any kind, from computers running Windows, Mac, or Linux to Android devices. But that wouldn't mean anything if the tracking Prey provided wasn't really solid. It's not fool-proof, especially if the thief wants to entirely wipe your computer or phone, but if that's not the case, it gives you a fighting chance."

Prey seems like a great product considering that it is free. The lifehacker article describes setting up the software and what options they recommend. It also includes a nice video. The software seems to have all the features you could reasonably want (assuming you have accepted the fact that you won't be able to get your laptop to tazer the would be thief). It uses Wi-Fi to get an approximate location, and allows you many options to lock down your PC. These include standard things like not allowing access without a password, and also some neat options such as taking a picture with your laptop's webcam and sounding an audible alarm. So you may not get your laptop back, but at least you will be able to remember the occasion with a picture of a startled thief trying to turn off the speakers of your (former) laptop.