Safe from the petty thief?

[awval999]

2nd year in college-- Last year two friends of mine had their laptops stolen (they weren't smart enough to lock the door). I of course keep my door locked.

Say a petty thief breaks into my room (or I forget to lock it):

1. I have two of those security cables for both my Dell 2001FP and my two year old laptop.

2. I have a BIOS password on the computer.

3. I have a drivelock password on the computer.

4. I have a Windows admin password on the computer.


I do have insurance too.


But lets say the theif gets the computer could they possibly use it if I have three passwords on it? I just want to be sure that the idiots have stolen a useless piece of plastic/metal.

On a scale 1-10 how safe is the computer and monitor from the typical college thief. Assume typical state university.

[IHateKeithSmart]

Hey:

There have been some issues (http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64987,00.html) with laptop locks.

Anyhow, are you worried about the thief getting your data? If so, the drivelock will help out, but I would also recommend some sort of encrypting file system or tools (eg. PGP Disk).

The BIOS password is helpful but can be circumvented. The Windows admin password does nothing to help with security when someone has physical access to your system.

IMO, drivelock does the most to safeguard the data. However, if the person just wants the hardware, you are out of luck. But, I think you are adequately protected from a petty thief.

[smoore]

Tech savvy people can reset all of those passwords. Data is safe, hardware isn't. Lock your door.

[MyMindIsGoing]

[ QUOTE ]
2. I have a BIOS password on the computer.
3. I have a drivelock password on the computer.
4. I have a Windows admin password on the computer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Biospasswords are kept via a battery, remove the battery and wait a few minutes and the pass is gone. What does it matter if there is a admin pass on the computer? Do you think the files are safe beacuse of that? Anyone who steals will not keep the installation anyways. Drivelock is easy to pass also. Anyone who steals a computer will know how. Oh and the chance if the computer getting stolen wont go down beacuse of the software locks. Neither will it go down beacuse you have insurance. I say move to a better neighbourhood if you got problems with breakins.

[awval999]

Is it that easy to remove a Kensington lock from the back of the 2001FP. I've tugged at it, it didn't seem like it was going to come off, but I didn't try my hardest.

Wouldn't a BIOS password stop a petty thug thief from actually being able to use the laptop?