
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



















