Track and Recover your stolen laptop for free with Prey

On a dark and rainy Saturday night in August 2009 my house was broken into by professional thieves who proceeded to rip through every room in the property emptying drawers, stuffing bags with valuables and kicking open dead-bolt locked doors. I returned home at 11.30pm after watching sports at a friend's place to find the back door swung wide open and mine and my flat-mates stuff strewn throughout the house. Many of my prized and hard-earned possessions were missing including my XBox 360, all of my work suits, an expensive watch, my MSI Wind U100 Netbook and my external hard drive with all my backed up data. Needless to say, I was devastated.

Upon attempting to rebuild my material life, I searched the web high and low for a method which would allow me to track down my netbook (more for the lost data than anything) without the need to retrospectively install software. Alas, I was unsuccessful. However, I did find a bunch of software of varying quality that when installed prior to theft allows for stolen computers to be remotely traced and for data to be deleted, or the ability to launch a popup message to your endeared thief, or hilariously to allow the laptop to emit a siren sound whenever used! I vowed to never again let a robber get away with stealing the computer of an Electric Vagabond while I sit here complacently!!

Popular programs for tracing stolen laptops include LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software, the comprehensive Specter Pro by SpectorSoft (which also appears to double as kid and spouse monitoring software!) and GadgetTrak. But one thing all these programs have in common is either a large upfront purchase cost, a bothersome ongoing subscription fee or both. And when installing on a low-cost machine such as a netbook this upfront and perpetual drain on the wallet can be understandably, a little off-putting.

Along comes the Prey Project by Tomás Pollak, an open-source, free to use, remotely enabled computer tracking program. There is no time or feature-limited trial version this is genuine freeware with no upfront fee and no ongoing operating expense. The client program is available for all assortment of OSs including 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and 7 as well as Mac OS Leopard/Snow and Linux.

How does it work and how do I get my computer(s) on the Prey Project?

You will need to download on each PC/Mac the Prey Client. This is available for download directly from the Prey Project website here. Once installed Prey will prompt you to configure the settings. The first screen that greets you below gives you two options; to configure the reporting method and to manage local settings. For now choose Setup reporting method.

Prey has 2 reporting methods, via the control panel and standalone mode. Today, we will cover the recommended mode - control panel. The standalone mode is too advanced for 99% of users and is only useful if you have your own web hosting service. I do, and I still use control panel mode. Select Prey + Control Panel and click Next.

The next screen gives you the option of creating a new account or if you have used Prey before you can enter your login details. While you must install the Prey Client on all machines you want tracked, all machines will link back in to your central account. Assuming this is your first time using Prey click New user then Next.

The next screen is straightforward, just enter your name, email, password and a unique identifier for your device. Once filled out click Create.

You should get the following screen. Click OK.

This next step is VERY IMPORTANT. Go to your email inbox and you should now have an email from the Prey Control Panel saying Please activate your new account. Click on the hyperlink in the email to activate. Once activated, visit the Prey Control Panel login page (the Log In link is at the top right of the Prey Project homepage) and attempt to login.

If all goes well you should see something along the lines of the following.

You can add up to 3 devices per account when I checked. I have a dual boot XP/7 on my machine so this unfortunately took up 2 of my slots. My girlfriend takes up my last spot. There is nothing stopping you creating multiple accounts if you would like to add more than 3 devices, you will just need additional email addresses for those accounts.

You are now fully setup with Prey!

How do I change settings?

There are a multitude of capabilities within Prey and settings can be changed locally or remotely. Local settings are limited and only allow you to change the interval in minutes between which Prey Client relays with the server and a couple of other limited settings. The real power comes in remotely changing settings, to do this login to the Prey Control Panel website. Click on the picture of the computer that you wish to edit settings on.

The Control Panel is very intuitive and well designed and even those with limited computer skills should be able to fumble through the settings. The settings use slider bars similar to those found on the iPhone and iPad. The first setting is self-explanatory but is the most crucial...

If your computer is stolen, log straight into the Prey Project Control panel as soon as you can and change this field to YES. The Prey website will then start tracking your laptop per the configuration you have in place and you can share the information you gather with local police. Under no circumstances should you attempt to confront a criminal who has taken your possessions without working directly with the police - this is dangerous and potentially illegal.

I would recommend the following settings on the control panel;

Device Configuration

You need to set this up as you like, inline with your machine details.

Prey Configuration

• Notify new reports: YES (this will email you everytime a report on your stolen laptop is generated by Prey, allowing timely action on stolen property)
• Auto update: NO (this is unnecessary and as of writing the feature is in Beta testing)
• Delay between executions (in mins): 30 (this is how frequently Prey client attempts to link up with the control panel. Once stolen you could consider dropping this to 5 minutes but beforehand 30 is a happy medium which won't bog down your computer with constant internet pings).

Module Configuration

Action Modules

• Alarm and Alert: OFF (if ON this will likely let the thief know that you are tracking them and they will probably reformat or dispose of the machine, use at your own risk)

Report Modules

• Network: ON (gathers information including IP address)
• Trace Route: ON (traces the route through which the computer has accessed the internet)
• Session: ON (enables features below)
• Get Screenshot: ON (this one is critical and will take a snapshot of what they are doing on your computer. If you are lucky you may even catch them using their EMail, FaceBook or MySpace page presenting critical ID information that could be provided to police.)
• Get Modified Files: OFF (not necessary and adds to the upload size of the info to the server)
• Modified Files Time: One Day (same as above)
• Modified Files Path: Home Folder (same as above)
• Get Active Connections: ON
• Get Running Programs: OFF (same as above)
• Webcam: ON (if you have one)
• Geo: ON (this is another critical one whereby Prey will attempt to track down their approximate location using internal GPS if available, IP tracking or a known nearby WiFi access point)

What does Prey look like in action and does it actually work?

You didn't think I'd write this whole article without testing Prey out did you? In my tests it worked fantastically. I loaded the Prey client up on my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron, shut down the machine and went to the Prey website to report it missing. I then randomly booted the machine and left it sitting on a nearby table pointing at me. Within a few minutes I had received an email from Prey with a link saying a report had been generated - EXCITING!

Clicking the link took me to the report page, a comprehensive collection of information Prey had gathered including the IP address, ISP, a screenshot of the desktop, and Google Maps information with the whereabouts of the machine. The Map spot was a few hundred metres up the road from me but definitely useful to know what vicinity the laptop was in when last used. You can see the output data below!

Oh and I tested the alarm function - the laptop emitted a loud police car type siren at max volume within one minute of being turned on and reported stolen! Imagine that going off in a Starbucks, the thief would drop everything and run!!

This software would work ideally in a machine with 3G and GPS that connected automatically upon startup.

The Verdict?

There is no reason why everyone in the world with a computer shouldn't install this.

• It's Free
• It works so well
• It helps track down criminals
• It helps you get your stolen property back
• It helps you get your stolen data back
• It's FREE!!!

I would recommend this software to all computer users out there and if it helps you find a laptop that has been stolen I would recommend donating generously to the project.

Shortcomings?

Yes, this is a rave review but Prey isn't without its shortcomings. Namely;

• Savvy fences will format a stolen computer as soon as they get it, removing any trace of your data and the Prey client, rendering the computer untraceable. Some expensive solutions embed themselves in the bios, reinstalling everytime a new OS is installed. Prey doesn't.
• In Windows, once installed, Prey appears in your Start menu and is visible to thieves. I would recommend manually deleting out of your start menu - this will not delete the software itself just reduce visibility to thieves
• I would recommend password protecting the install folder to prevent thieves deleting.
• Once installed, Prey is easily uninstallable although not through the control panel. If not removed from the start menu all it takes for any thieves is just a click of a button to take it out of the system.
• While the webcam worked in my trial above it did popup the "Dell Webcam" features box everytime it tried to take a pic, tipping off thieves. Moreover, when tested on a Sony Vaio with webcam the webcam didn't take any pics.
• 3 devices per account is enough for most but some power users may want to add more and will have to create a new account per 3 devices. Also, if you have multiple OSs on your device each OS creates a separate device on your account.

Let me know your thoughts on how you've found Prey, and more importantly be sure to let us all know if you have had a successful recovery of a device due to Prey.

Keep Vagabonding

Nvidia Ion in Netbooks is what I'm excited about

Long time no post guys but just thought I'd stop by and tell you what I'm excited about in the world of netbooks at the moment and what is set to be the next quantum leap for netbooks since Intel introduced the now ubiquitous Atom processor.

The Nvidia Ion. This Intel/Nvidia collaboration chip has been banded around for a while now at CES and other events but we are now at a stage where we are approaching potential netbook product releases with this chip featured centre stage.

So just what is the Ion?
Well it is designed around delivering something that is missing in Atom powered netbooks and nettops today... graphics performance. So why does my netbook suck when it comes to graphics you ask? Well... its because generally good graphics processors are;

1) expensive

2) power hungry (aka not netbook battery friendly) and

3) BIG (technically chips are small but the auxiliary cooling/circuitry can be large).

It is highly likely your netbook has an onboard Intel GMA graphics chip which is basically enough to 'just get by'.

However, Nvidia has now witnessed the insane growth of netbooks and is stepping in to the arena with the Ion - finally modern games, Full HD movies and OS effects will now operate with congruous fluidity!

An Ion is essentially an Intel Atom N230 central processing unit combined with a Nvidia GeForce 9400 graphics processing unit all in a super-small netbook friendly package!

The product page boasts:

• DirectX 10 Graphics (capable of super modern effects, games and other cool stuff!) - they demo Call of Duty 4 on the site and I must say it looks pretty good.


• 1080p HD Video w/ 7.1 Sound!


• CUDA technology to help with graphics processing in OS applications such as Video encoding or photoshop


• Will integrate well with Windows 7/Windows Vista's flashy Aero interface (window transparency and special effects etc)

Below is a marketing-ey type video for the Ion from Nvidia that shows a snippet of what they claim you can do with Ion - not exactly technical stuff but hey I'm a sucker for pretty marketing material when it comes to shiny new products!

vid via [Acer Aspire Revo].

So when can we get our hands on an Ion powered machine you ask? Well... the first commercial machine is an Acer Aspire Revo - however this machine is a nettop rather than a netbook but excitingly Acer claims it will be priced well under USD500, features HDMI out, Wi-Fi N and SEVEN USB ports! Notably, Gizmodo managed to playback a Blu-Ray movie at great bitrates using a demo machine but pointed out that Flash and Silverlight - the technologies that power video sites like Hulu and YouTube - don't utilise GPU acceleration at all, so performance won't improve on this front.

The Acer Aspire Revo

[Update: I found this interesting article which heavily critiques the Aspire Revo - namely Acer's choice of a weak CPU such as an Atom in a machine where power drain isn't an issue. It suggests that the Celeron would have been a better choice for performance vs cost and I have to agree in this case it probably would be. Especially in a Vista scenario the article suggests that the Revo will be anologous to "... something that moves with the speed of a syphilitic water buffalo wearing leg irons.". However, I see the purpose of this machine as more of a collaborative PR tool for Nvidia and Acer rather than a top notch product in that it pushes the Ion and lets Acer have claim of 'first-to-market' while still producing a relatively cheap and effective computer.]

So who will be the first off the block with netbooks carrying an Ion? Well its anyone's guess but possibly Lenovo will be bringing out 11 and 12" ideapads before not too long - we'll just have to wait and see.

For now I am still using my MSI Wind U100 with Windows 7 Beta and I DO love the setup, however an Ion powered netbook would make me change machines faster than you can say "Open and clear".

Netbooks and Nettops For People Around the World

Wow - was just surfing the internets on my Wind and stumbled across this awesome ad from Intel's YouTube channel promoting the Atom and netbooks... Not sure if you guys have seen this before but seeing as I probably read more about netbooks than most I'm guessing not! How this video slipped under my radar since June '08 is beyond me!

Enjoy! Oh and does anyone know what song this is? 

MSI Wind Bios Update 1.0B

Kia Ora from New Zealand and a very belated Happy New Year to you all!

Besides putting this blog on the backburner for a while I couldn't ignore all the request and internet noise over the new 1.0B bios from MSI for the U100 Wind Netbook. Truth be told there isn't any improvements worth noting, but take it from me - I highly recommend updating to the latest bios as it seems stable and there are minor improvements and fixes that are better to have than not have.

Overclocking has remained (added in bios 1.07) in this update - HOWEVER some people are reporting overclocking not functioning properly on their machines whereby it did using older bioses like 1.09. If this is the case and you REALLY need overclocking then just use my old guide to flash back to 1.09 here. Other people are experiencing a couple of other niggles but this hasn't changed from previous bioses. Please use the Troubleshooter at the end of this guide to... troubleshoot!

Well enough time wasting the guide and package download are below, enjoy.

EV's Guide to Flashing the 1.0B Bios for the MSI Wind in Windows XP and Vista

CAUTION: Although this method is proven to be the most successfully consistent, its not a surefire method and those not willing to take the technical risk of temporarily or permanently screwing up their machine should not proceed. Any issues at any step of the guide please refer Troubleshooting at the bottom. I have endeavoured to keep this up to date with the latest fixes to any problems so please go through the troubleshooting section before reporting errors.

However, this is an official MSI release available on their website and therefore they legally must support any issues you have with the upgrade. Thanks MSI!

Pre-update) Before proceeding ensure that you have the latest System Control Manager (SCM) from the MSI support page here. Many users have reported issues such as speedstep not working properly or the unavailability of Eco mode - all fixed by the latest SCM.

Step 1) As flashing the bios is an inherently risky procedure it is important that you are running on AC power and that your MSI Wind battery is removed to prevent any potential power issues during the update. Shut Down your Wind, remove the battery, and boot to Windows on wall power only.

Step 2) Download this package which contains the 1.0B official bios, and a modified version of the winflash utility for flashing your bios in Windows. 

Step 3) To be safe turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and disconnect all peripherals from your Wind. Close any virus scanners or 3rd party firewalls that might inadvertently interrupt or cause errors during the bios flashing process. Program your power button to shut down the machine (rather than standby or hibernate).

Step 4) Unzip the package and create a folder in your C Drive called FLASH. Paste the files from the downloaded package into the FLASH folder.

Step 5) Click the Start button, click Run... and type CMD and press OK. This will launch a DOS-like command prompt in a window. Type CD\ at the prompt to return to the core directory and then type CD FLASH to change to the C:\FLASH directory. Type RUNFLASH to execute the batch file that will update your Bios. Wait patiently for the flash to complete. Once done you will be back at the command prompt in C:\FLASH. Type EXIT. If your keyboard is not working at this stage don't panic, just shut down your computer using your mouse or press your power button.

Step 6) Shut Down your machine and remove the wallpower for 20 seconds.

Step 7) Reinstall the battery and boot your machine to Windows ensuring USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Keyboard and Mouse are all functioning. Refer Troubleshooting at the end of this guide if you experience issues during this step. If your computer doesn't boot at all (won't display bios flash screen) and you have additional RAM see the troubleshooting section.

Step 8) Reboot your Wind and enter your bios (Press DEL when you see the MSI splash screen) - navigate to the Advanced tab and where it says DOC you can select between an 8%, 15% and 24% overclock. Also make sure Speedstep is set to Enabled as this will allow your Atom to run at a lower clock when idling.

I advise starting DOC with 8% to make sure that your Wind can handle this overclock and work your way up to 24% (1984MHz c.f. 1600MHz stock) if you wish. Users with upgraded good quality RAM (such as Corsair) will be able to achieve a higher overclock setting with stable results.

Press F10 to save and exit the bios.

Once in Windows, and running on AC Power, pressing Fn+F10 should display 'Turbo On' and your Power LED should turn Orange. You are now running an overclocked Wind!

Note: As an added bonus when running on Battery Power and pressing Fn+F10 for Eco Mode you power LED will turn green. So now you can tell whether you are in Eco, Normal or Turbo modes just by looking the power LED color!

Troubleshooting:

- Did you install the MSI SCM as I said above step 1? Download it here and install it - you may have to uninstall your previous SCM first.

- If your Wind doesn't boot try disconnecting all power sources (battery, wallpower) for 20 seconds (preferably more - like 10 minutes) or holding down the Power button for 10 seconds with AC Power connected.

- If you have additional RAM and your Wind won't boot, you probably need to disable Onboard Memory in the bios. You can display the bios splash screen by holding down Esc and pressing the power on button. You will still need to press Del once you see the MSI splash screen. Alternatively try removing the additional RAM module and booting into the bios (press DEL when the MSI splash screen appears). In the Advanced tab ensure that Onboard Memory is disabled then reinstall your additional RAM and reboot.

- Try enabling/disabling AHCI in bios.

- Try pressing F9 in Bios to restore optimized default settings.

- If you don't see the 'Turbo On' icon (as per the pic in this post, except without a fast looking mouse) then you probably need to install the System Control Manager from MSI's support site here.

- Got Vista? Disable UAC (User Account Control) to solve the driver not found issue.

- Bluetooth not going? Try rebooting several times, this reportedly makes it come right in many circumstances.

- Refer MSI Wind Forums if these methods don't work.

Tidings!!

A big Merry Christmas (a tad early I know) and Happy New Year to all you readers and subscribers alike! 

Mucho apologies for the big gap in posts, the reason for which you might have read about here... Unfortunately this has been compounded by my travelling and temporary relocation to another country, Christmas rush and present buying and other serious financial issues around my personal solvency due to the dead job market in the financial sector (my specialisation)!

So, the long and the short of it is I'm not going to be able to provide ongoing cutting edge netbook news and analysis due to my personal situation, at least in the short term.

I did find this cool chart though (you may have already seen) which shows which netbooks run various elements of OS X. This is essential for anyone considering creating a mini macbook for Christmas getaways. Click below for full size!