 | Jul 23 2009 |
1NF1LTR83R I don't have my Macbook Pro just yet, but I am planning on using Undercover combined with Safeware insurance. One can never have too much protection. I've heard Apple is considering following laptop PC manufacturers, and having a form of Lojack hardware embedded onto the mainboard. Go ahead and remove the hard drive, then. Go ahead and crack the firmware, then. Only option left would be to solder off the Lojack chip. I imagine that can be circumvented as well.
(Version 3.0) | |
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| Jan 28 2009 |
MACSOLU This software will not prevent the thief from simply physically removing the hard drive, replacing it with another drive, and then installing a fresh Mac OS & apps.
(Version 3.0) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| May 2 2009 |
MIKAELF and other software packages do?
(Version 3.0) | |
| May 2 2009 |
MIKAELF and other software packages do?
(Version 3.0) | |
 | Nov 10 2008 |
ORBICULE Dear Mr. Miracle, Orbicule is alive and kicking! We have replied to your email within minutes. Most likely, your spam filter has accidentally marked our message as junk mail. This is something we really can't do anything about it. Please try to contact us again with an alternate email address. | |
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| Mar 28 2008 |
BRUCEMIRACLE It looks like Orbicule may have gone out of business. I've sent follow-up messages to their support address multiple times in the last three weeks with no response. And they're never on-line with their iChat account any more either.... Doesn't look good if your laptop gets stolen now!
(Version 2.0) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
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| Mar 29 2008 |
ORBICULE Dear Mr. Miracle, Orbicule is alive and kicking! We have replied to your email within minutes. Most likely, your spam filter has accidentally marked our message as junk mail. This is something we really can't do anything about it. | |
| Feb 18 2008 |
ALTERO-TOT-EU My Mac was not stolen, so I can not say how useful is this software. And I prefer like that :). I bought the soft in 2006, and yesterday I asked if I can transfer it to the new MBP. Despite the one year and half, the new version, and the fact that I paid at that time almost half the present price, I got very quick instructions on how to do it. Great team!
(Version 2.0) | |
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 | Dec 27 2007 |
NOOBIENOOBIE I am writeing to inform you that Undercover 2.0 IS DANGEROUS! After installing the so called, security wonder that theives will cower before, i was in for a rather large shock. I ahve booted into my Windows XP boot camp partition and completes some work using office 2007. Upon rebooting into OS X, typing in my password and logging in, I now had a giant irremovable banner accross my screen reading. 'I am a stolen macintosh computer please return me to my owner. Your photo and location details have been forwarded to the owner and respective autorities.' The mac was also shouting 'HELP HELP I AM A STOLEN MACINTOSH COMPUTER PLEASE SAVE ME AND REURN ME TO MY OWNER HELP' over and over again with full volume. Being on a train at the time did not help me in the slightest. With awkward questions being asked by the train guard and several weary eyes pointing in my direction i was forced to disembarque the train and head to the nearest apple store. I arrived in the store looking rather harrased and the assistant, upon hearing what my mac had to say called the manager who close the store doors and asked me what was going on. I explained that my mac had recently has UNDERCOVER (unregistered version) installed and is now in a rather bad way. The manager did not belive me as i had just ran into the store as if i was fleeing someone. The tech assistant took the mac out of my hands and walked away. 30 minutes later after a localized investigation conducted within the store i was able to prove that the macintosh MacBook was mine and that i had installed Undercover. They only figured out that it was mine after i proved who i was and they checked the registered serial number. DO NOT BUY TIS SOFTWARE IF YOU TRAVEL AS IF IT CANNOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET OR GETS TURNED OFF DURING TRANSIT YOU WILL HAVE HELL TO GET IT RESTROED!
(Version 2.0) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
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| Apr 22 2009 |
EEGEETEE No reply from developer here?
(Version 3.0) | |
| Nov 12 2009 |
FRESHFUNK Id really like to see the developers reply to this as its been here for ages, is quite worrying and as the other person said, as had no reply! I was considering investing until I read this
(Version 3.2) | |
| Jun 7 2007 |
APOLLOX Inexpensive, well thought out, easy to use, and backed by out-standing technical support. Even just reading the FAQ is rewarding such as their suggestions for setting a firmware password and creating a dummy admin account to encourage the thief to use the system and get caught. This product is top level and well worth the tiny cost of the investment.
(Version 1.5) | |
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| May 22 2007 |
BOYDBE I am a college student, just finished up my first year. I purchased and installed undercover the summer before my freshman year began (researched anti-theft software before making the switch to mac). shortly after purchasing Undercover i had my wallet stolen, and I lost my undercover recovery ID #... I contacted customer support and the developer was very quick and patient in guiding me through the steps to recover my recovery number. Over the course of the year, i quite honestly forgot that i had undercover installed, it was just never apparent that it was running (it really does work as advertised, when they claim it takes virtually no system resources). Upon seeing a review for it about a week ago, I remembered that i indeed had undercover installed, but this time could not locate my recovery number or my confirmation email (required to recover your recovery number), lol. Upon contacting customer support again, i was re-told what to do to get my recovery ID # (which brought to my attention that i needed my confirmation # from an email i no longer had). I brought this to the developers attention, and he actually re-sent me my confirmation number!!! Outstanding customer support. I hope i never have to use this software, but it provides great piece of mind. I recommend to anyone who values their precious mac. Simply amazing.
(Version 1.5) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Nov 10 2007 |
WCITYMIKE Your entire anecdote kind of shows a big weakness in the whole system, doesn't it?
(Version 2.0) | |
| May 2 2009 |
MIKAELF How? Explain please...
(Version 3.0) | |
| Apr 30 2007 |
WSW Installed Undercover 2 months ago. I was leery about installing the Open Firmware password. Received rapid response & excellent follow up to my questions from the developer prior to purchasing.
(Version 1.5) | |
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| Feb 1 2007 |
RUBTEN I was one day away from signing up with Orbicule. I heard about them on a Wednesday night. I thought, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I will do it then. I had my laptop stolen. My iPod stolen. My external hard drive stolen. From my car while I was unloading and loading things for our Thanksgiving feast. Gulp. I wished I had just made the purchase. Once I got my new laptop I effortlessly signed up with Orbicule. About two weeks ago i had to send my new MBP back to the shop. I needed a new hard drive. I contact customer support at Orbicule and step by step they helped me! I want to say it was almost instant. They were very helpful and very kind and patient. Customer Service is OUTSTANDING!
(Version 1.5) | |
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| Jul 27 2006 |
CKPCW Undercover is just the thing I needed! As a college student, laptop theft is always a concern. Locks can help prevent theft, but once it's gone, you're out of luck. I use both: a physical lock for prevention, and Undercover for recovery. The peace of mind afforded by Undercover is great. The software (as advertised) takes up practically no resources whatsoever, and the support is extremely fast and friendly. For $25 or $30 (with a money-back guarantee!), this is a no-brainer! Undercover is something no Mac laptop owner should be without!
(Version 1.5) | |
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| May 19 2006 |
GEE4ORCE Innovative software that 'just works' - it stays out of the way so completely that it's actually hard to tell if it's running or not. Personal tech support from the developer is first rate - very prompt, concise and helpful. Recommended !
(Version 1.5) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
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| Jul 24 2006 |
CKPCW Undercover is just the thing I needed! As a college student, laptop theft is always a concern. Locks can help prevent theft, but once it's gone, you're out of luck. I use both: a physical lock for prevention, and Undercover for recovery. The peace of mind afforded by Undercover is great. The software (as advertised) takes up practically no resources whatsoever, and the support is extremely fast and friendly. For $25 or $30 (with a money-back guarantee!), this is a no-brainer! Undercover is something no Mac laptop owner should be without!
(Version 1.5) | |
| Feb 8 2006 |
1) What if the theif reset the open firmware password and reinstall the OS? or just use FWSucker to get open firmware password? 2) What if the theif just install little snitch and not letting any connections came through?
(Version 1.5) | |
| [ 6 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Feb 8 2006 |
Thanks for your great comments! I'm not familiar with the FWSucker app and I could not find this on MacUpdate. Could you send me a link? Installing Little Snitch requires an admin pasword, however, something the thief does not have access to.
(Version 1.5) | |
| Feb 8 2006 |
TEE_TEE http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php It's at the end of the page.
(Version 1.5) | |
| Feb 8 2006 |
ORBICULE Thanks for the link. The app is only for OS 9 though. I no longer have the classic environment so I can't test it. I guess it might work when you still have classic...more and more Macs won't be able to run it though (all intel macs, for example) and even the PPC macs no longer have classic installed by default.
(Version 1.5) | |
| Feb 8 2006 |
TEE_TEE I think you have not answered my question about adding/removing ram to bypass the open firmware password. I know I'm being picky here. As someone posted below that most theifs have no idea about these kinds of things. But, I think the one whom the theifs sell to might know these stuff really well.
(Version 1.5) | |
| Feb 9 2006 |
ORBICULE That's still a possibility indeed but only with some models and only if the thief has a Mac OS X CD or DVD to reinstall the OS...
(Version 1.5) | |
| Jul 18 2006 |
DCHAMMER While there seem to be some ways of sneaking by this sort of thing... it seems to me that by the time the crook realizes it's even a problem it's already too late. (network data has been obtained...)
(Version 1.5) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
THOMAS HAYWARD Fascinating concept, though I'm not sure I'd feel to easy about the potential for it to send screenshots and location data when I'm using it legitimately!
(Version 1.0) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jan 18 2006 |
Thanks for your comment. I would like to stress that Undercover only sends screenshots when you activate it (= when your mac has been stolen). You can only activate it by sending us the Undercover ID you get when installing Undercover. This ID is unique for every Mac and without this ID, we can't monitor it. Undercover developer
(Version 1.0) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
TIBERIUSOSX Seems useful enough, but it's just software. What's the point of paying for something that any theif would erase with the operating system?
(Version 1.0) | |
| [ 6 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jan 18 2006 |
A thief can't format the HD if you install the Apple Firmware password. See: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106482 for more information.
(Version 1.0) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
TIBERIUSOSX I understand that that would be true for most. But it is actually quite easy to reset the Open Firmware Password. I do it regularly. Out of respect for the purpose of this product, I will not post the method here.
(Version 1.0) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
ORBICULE That's right, it can be done. But it requires some hardware knowledge that we hope (and think) the thief won't have. And even if the thief manages to do it somehow, Undercover may have done its work already Thanks for your response! Undercover developer
(Version 1.0) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
ADWIZ According to studies that were published a few years ago, the vast majority of computer thieves know absolutely nothing about computers and only want to sell them. They don't reformat anything. Those who do keep them also prefer not to reformat because they want to use the software that's on the machine. This makes Undercover quite useful, provided that law enforcement officials actually act on the information. When my car was stolen nothing was done to retrieve the contents even though the thief left me with documentation containing his address, which I gave to police. I'm concerned about the Plan B approach, however. I'm not sure how the system knows that the computer is in a repair shop. If it experiences a "hardware problem" I find it quite unlikely that the thief would take the machine to a repair shop. If it was fenced off to someone else then it is possible that the person would do this, but even then there is a strong chance they wouldn't take such action because people who buy a stolen piece of equipment are likely to know it is hot. You don't buy a computer for $100 without suspicion. What if it's at the home of someone else and the "stolen" information appears on the screen? That would pretty much guarantee a reformat of the drive.
(Version 1.0) | |
| Jan 18 2006 |
TIBERIUSOSX Thanks for all the input/replies. I think you may have a buyer here...
(Version 1.0) | |
| Dec 27 2007 |
NOOBIENOOBIE ead my review it has a few shocking answers!
(Version 2.0) | |
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