Lapcop, LoJack, Undercover, etc - Which tracking is company is best?

From my understanding, macbooks (as well as many new PC's) have software embedded into the BIOS that allow tracking software to work behind the scenes, providing a fail safe, even if the HDD is formatted.

With that said, it seems a few company's now offer this service, such as the ones listed in the topic. Any suggestions on which company may be the best solution?

Nevermind, it seems as if the BIOS embedded solutions, (Such as LoJack) do not offer such a thing for Apple/Mac.

I think my best solution may be MacTrak, which actually sends webcam pictures and IP information directly to the owner, rather than relying on some sort of 'datacenter' or 'security team'.

I'm sure you can get things to attach to the mac (inside or out) which can then track when you activate the 'lost' signal.

NOTE: Nothing to do with Notebook Hardware. Moving to Software.

FireFighter 227 said:

Nevermind, it seems as if the BIOS embedded solutions, (Such as LoJack) do not offer such a thing for Apple/Mac.

I think my best solution may be MacTrak, which actually sends webcam pictures and IP information directly to the owner, rather than relying on some sort of 'datacenter' or 'security team'.

Click to expand...

Yea...I personally have not had software/services like "LoJack" for a computer.

But I have seen posts here on MacForums that the "BIOS" based security systems don't work like that on a Mac...since Mac's don't have BIOS like WinTel computers do.

But "LoJack" is available for Macintosh's:

Absolute Software - How It Works

...but I guess it must work differently on Mac's than it does on Windows computers.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Yea...I personally have not had software/services like "LoJack" for a computer.

But I have seen posts here on MacForums that the "BIOS" based security systems don't work like that on a Mac...since Mac's don't have BIOS like WinTel computers do.

But "LoJack" is available for Macintosh's:

Absolute Software - How It Works

...but I guess it must work differently on Mac's than it does on Windows computers.

- Nick

Click to expand...

Indeed it does. The PC version embeds itself into the BIOS, which then reinstalls itself onto the hard drive, in the case that the thief formats the hard drive, or otherwise replaces it. Very neat feature. This is limited to the PC manufacturers (and models) that have participated in the program. Mac (and PC) users that dont support BIOS embedding, will have to simply rely on software solutions and cross their fingers that the thief does not format/replace the hard drive. I assume a BIOS password can help to prevent this on the mac, from what Ive read.

Another smart idea, at least for software applications, is to create a "guest" account without a password, that way the would be thief 'takes the route of least resistance' and decides to play around on a non password protected account. If a thief is faced with a password protected account, he would be more likely to circumvent your effort and possibly begin with formatting or replacing drives.

Although not full proof (or is that fool proof?), it does add an extra line of protection. I mean, lets be honest, most thieves aren't exactly the smartest people. There are also a few free software alternatives as well, such as "Adeona". This software posts pictures on a set interval, along with external and internal IPs...which should be enough info for you and local law enforcement to track the laptop.