Laptop stolen? Here's how to find it

It's your worst nightmare.

You leave your laptop in your car for a few moments, perhaps to run into a convenience store to get a cup of coffee or a newspaper.

When you come back, you're horrified to discover that your laptop has been stolen.

Or there's some kind of momentary distraction, and when you reach for your notebook, it's gone.

According to law-enforcement agencies, computer theft is still on the rise — along with the identity theft that often follows.

If you're ready to add some affordable, state-of-the-art PC protection, then you're ready for ComputraceComplete. It's a total system from Absolute Software (www.absolute.com) that helps recover stolen computers.

ComputraceComplete begins with a low-level installation of special software that's invisible to anyone who is unauthorized. Some computer makers are building this into their computers' firmware.

After installation, the second part of the system is the monitoring service provided by Absolute Software.

The Absolute Recovery Team is made up of people who work with law-enforcement agencies and provide them with the tracking information and necessary documentation to help them procure subpoenas and search warrants.

Here's how it works. The ComputraceComplete software is designed to check in with the monitoring center once every day, although you can increase that frequency if desired. If all is well, life continues as normal, and you won't even be aware the computer has "called home."

If your computer is stolen, you alert the recovery-team center. When the stolen computer does its routine check-in, the monitoring center will immediately query the computer for its location.

If it's a dial-up connection, then the ANI data — that's like a super version of Caller ID — will display the physical location of the telephone number. If the connection is made via a broadband connection such as DSL or cable modem, then the Internet service provider will be immediately contacted.

It won't matter if the user is connected via a Wi-Fi connection, as that location information is passed on as well. In any of these cases, Absolute's monitoring service supplies law-enforcement officers with what they need to get the subscriber's Internet service provider to release the subscriber's location.

One additional new feature is ComputraceComplete's ability to instantly delete any information on the stolen computer's hard drive. You can instruct the Absolute Recovery Team to delete a single file, a folder or an entire directory, or even to wipe out the Windows operating system.

All of this will happen without the thief being aware that the action is taking place. If everything is deleted, the thief will know only that the computer won't run anymore for some unknown reason. Nothing will alert him that the computer has been traced and located.

Absolute Software has all of the subscription and software costs posted along with descriptions that will help you to choose the right plan for you.

ComputraceComplete is its top-of-the-line product, but you may not need all of the services it offers. If that's the case, you may want to check out its LoJack for Laptops location system.

But whatever location system you choose, you're going to feel a lot better if the unthinkable happens to you.

The system is available for Windows-based computers only, but a Macintosh system is in the works.