Prey - software everyone should have!

danieljamesphoto · 25 Jan 2010

http://preyproject.com/

"Prey is a lightweight application that will help you track and find your laptop if it ever gets stolen. It works in all operating systems and not only is it Open Source but also completely free. "

just thought I would post as I think it's a great idea and now have it on all of my hardware.

neil_g · 25 Jan 2010

itll only work while the software is installed though if i remember rightly.

so as soon as the hard drive is formatted (or the app uninstalled) youve lost it.

dinorock · 25 Jan 2010

neil_g said:
itll only work while the software is installed though if i remember rightly.

so as soon as the hard drive is formatted (or the app uninstalled) youve lost it.

thats probably true but your average thieving git won,t know that

neil_g · 25 Jan 2010

dinorock said:
thats probably true but your average thieving git won,t know that

no but if you bought a 2nd hand laptop whats the first thing youd do? personally id wipe it, especially if i bought it from some guy in the pub.. lol

plus it relies on an internet connection.

danieljamesphoto · 25 Jan 2010

i figure it's free and worth a go. There's a success story, ok a rarity but someone had a laptop stolen, used BackToMyMac to get on to it, found it was connected to the net and the thieves had gone out of the room, when they came back in she used the webcam to capture them and they got caught.

Turns out it was a friend of a friend so easily identified and shows some people are just THAT stupid

danieljamesphoto · 25 Jan 2010

neil_g said:
itll only work while the software is installed though if i remember rightly.

so as soon as the hard drive is formatted (or the app uninstalled) youve lost it.

would be great if Apple built something like this into the laptops, hard coded it deep within the computer so even wiping it wont remove it

nomorem6 · 25 Jan 2010

neil_g said:
no but if you bought a 2nd hand laptop whats the first thing youd do? personally id wipe it, especially if i bought it from some guy in the pub.. lol

plus it relies on an internet connection.

So are you saying "just don't bother."? Instead of having a slim chance of recovering your computer you'd prefer to have no chance? :thinking:

neil_g · 25 Jan 2010

nomorem6 said:
So are you saying "just don't bother."? Instead of having a slim chance of recovering your computer you'd prefer to have no chance?

no im not saying that.. its free and theres a slim chance it might recover your laptop.

im just pointing out that its not worth pinning too many hopes on it as it can easily be bypassed.

DuncanDisorderly · 25 Jan 2010

Thanks for the link - I'm going to give it a whizz and if it works as advertised then it's going straight onto my Mum's and other laptops that I look after.
It might work rather nicely as my Mum's laptop is not password protected.
I reckon there is a good chance a tealeaf would see if they could use it / sell it on with the software intact.
Cheers - DD

LemmingLover · 25 Jan 2010

dinorock said:
thats probably true but your average thieving git won,t know that

I disagree. Of the 14 odd laptops we had stolen as a company last year, all were subsequently reinstalled - it happens frequently. 13 were recovered by the police. We use Computrace on our Dell laptops.

danieljamesphoto · 30 Jan 2010

for Apples there's a firmware password lock it seems which if activated stops formatting without the password, this may help at least surely?

What if someone does a clean install of OS X on my machine?

You can prevent this by installing a firmware password. You can find the firmware password utility on your Mac OS X DVD (in /Applications/Utilities/ on the disc). Make sure to reboot your Mac after enabling the firmware password.

IMPORTANT NOTE: On the Leopard / Snow Leopard DVD, the firmware password is still in /Applications/Utilities, but this folder is now hidden.

In order to view the hidden Utilities folder in the Finder:
- Insert your Leopard / Snow Leopard installation DVD
- Press Command + Shift + G (Go To Folder)
- Enter /Volumes/Mac OS X Upgrade DVD/Applications/Utilities in the dialog box
(where Mac OS X Upgrade DVD is the name of your (Snow) Leopard DVD: this name might be different)