tremmor

Agree with all.
Dont forget Lo-Jack to get it back and track who has it if used.

http://www.absolute.com/products/lojack

tlarkin

I use lowjack's corporate product, computrace at work for our laptops. I can remotely wipe drives with it.

Really, the only honest way is AES encryption with a strong password. Encrypted file systems have issues though and if you have any file system corruption good bye data. That is why I typically create a sparse image with AES encryption and keep private data in that disk image.

__________________
Typical Signature:
<Computer Specs>
-numbers I read off a box
-parts I assembled in a case all by myself
-benchmark score

"Will the man with telekenesis please raise my hand?" - Vonnegut

chown -R us /.base

Get a grep!

ComputerHazard

Basically safe to say dont leave your laptop anywhere they will get into it and get your data no true form of protection actually exists. There are ways but all have backdoors and ways to get around them. But as I mentioned before what could you do with go to my pc if your laptop in the thieves hands and your computer were linked and on the internet??

kimsland

Well in reality, if anyone actually steals your laptop they will likely throw away your hard drive and purchase another
Unless you're some type of government official no one wants your damn data, everything is already on the web, no one is interested in your personal stuff (unless your hard drive was stolen in south africa or something )

tyttebøvs

I take that bet. I depends on what personal data that is. Some people store some rather private data that they do not want the entire world to see

tlarkin

I keep all my tax return information in an encrypted disk image, which has my account info, my name, my address and my social security. I am not rich by any means but I have enough money that people may want to take what little I have.

__________________
Typical Signature:
<Computer Specs>
-numbers I read off a box
-parts I assembled in a case all by myself
-benchmark score

"Will the man with telekenesis please raise my hand?" - Vonnegut

chown -R us /.base

Get a grep!

ComputerHazard

Like HOMEMADE PORN lol

ComputerHazard

yeah thats probably where all your porn is lol now you have to change it lol Thank you Dane Cook! Also these days they dont have to hack your computer to get your money!

__________________
When stupidity meets computers:
Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
Female customer: A white one...

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape.
Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer.

Real questions only please!

tlarkin

Maybe you are missing the point....

Sensitive data, one that is personal to you, is best kept in an AES encrypted disk image. If you work for a company on say patent law (my ex girlfriend is a patent lawyer) you are in direct competition with many other companies on getting your patent filed first.

Lets say the competition is getting pretty stiff and they hire someone to steal company laptops from the competitor to mine the data from it. Which, to be honest, is not really that far fetched. What happens when it gets stolen? Unless you keep that private data in an encrypted disk image, or encrypt your whole hard drive with a strong password, your data is open to anyone.

Physical access to a computer trumps all security.

That is just one example, think of engineers, law firms, government agencies, and so forth. There are plenty of reasons to keep your data private, with out it being porn.

Besides who downloads porn on their computer anyway? You can just stream it now, and that is a lot safer than downloading it. No physical files on your computer.

__________________
Typical Signature:
<Computer Specs>
-numbers I read off a box
-parts I assembled in a case all by myself
-benchmark score

"Will the man with telekenesis please raise my hand?" - Vonnegut

chown -R us /.base

Get a grep!

tyttebøvs

If you only encrypt a part of the disk, have you then taking into account that some programs might save a temporary file elsewhere? There is also the problem with unencrypted data appearing in paging files...

In such cases the thief will be using data recovery software also.