LapCop

Great idea and well implemented!

Doesn't work on Intel-based Macs.

I think it's crappy that you cannot use this product without giving them money first I dont CARE if you refund it or not. most companys make it so much of a hassle to get refunds you give up. Same philosophy with rebates. There are no instructions on how to un install this either. The way you are FORCED to give them money in order to even TEST this makes me not like the product or the company. I'll continue to guard my Powerbook with a Mac 10.

This is a ridiculous comment! LapCop is superior to Secure Notebook and all other security apps. Secure Notebook and similar apps use SMTP to send their mail. Any computer geek knows that you won't be able to connect to your SMTP server from another network. So as soon as the laptop gets stolen, Secure Notebook will no longer work, which is uhm... problematic, to say the least. LapCop works differently, it contacts a server and that server sends the e-mail. That makes LapCop much more reliable than anything else out there.

Complete rip-off of the original "Secure Notebook" and the developer claims "innovative" That's so dishonest it's disgusting.

In response to Mr. Negativity who says this program doesn't work. For the price of the program in comparison to the price of the PowerBook, I would take my chances with the program even if the chances of getting it back are slim. Plus, if you install the Open Firmware Password, you will make it very difficult for the robber to do a clean install or erase the contents of your HD completely. I for one fell much more confortable knowing that I have LapCop installed in my PowerBook. Better safe than sorry! and anything that contributes to that at a cheap price is very much Worth It !!!!!!!

I'm not so sure that it's a great idea. This program is only useful in the very rare constellation where the thief is so stupid that he wouldn't be able to steal loo paper from a public toilet. LapCop will be helpful if the thief goes home with his new toy, happily plugs it into his telephone socket and starts surfing for pr0n. There might be thieves out there who are that stupid, and if your laptop happens to meet one of them, Lapcop might be a good tool to track them down. But in real life, laptops are stolen to be sold, which means the thieves usually wipe the drive and set up a new system. Even if they want to use it for themselves, it is not very likely that Lapcop will report the right people. If the thief goes surfing on a wireless network with your Airport-enabled iBook, Lapcop will report a Starbucks café or an innocent company whose network was hijacked by a LAN sniffer. So the usefulness of this software is limited to a constellation where the thief 1) leaves your system untouched; 2) connects to the internet over a network address that is itentical with his personal address; and 3) connects to the internet in a country where ISPs and local authorities immediately act on your prompt. Which boils down to: no, this program isn't useful at all. Better get a good insurance, backup your files every evening and avoid leaving your machine unattended. It's that simple. Most stolen laptops never return to their owners, that's a fact. Don't expect anything from programs like this. There is also a fundamental logical flaw in the way this program is supposed to work. To successfully track down a thief with LapCop, you should decide not to set up a password for your computer in the first place and make access to the system as easy as possible. Why? Because that will make it a bit more likely that the thief doesn't simply wipe the drive and its secret phone-home feature. If he runs into a log-in screen on start-up, he will be even more tempted to do a clean install. Yes, he could also reset the password with an installer disk, but why should he bother? New PowerBooks, for instance, need a special system DVD that is unlikely to be found in the arsenal of the average grab-that-notebook-and-run guy. If you make access to your machine difficult, you reduce the possibility to see the thief go online with the system you set up. Since programs like LapCop rely on this possibility, you should leave your system wide open and forgo any security precautions. But if you're in your right mind, you want do that, and instead of spending money for a program like LapCop, you will buy a good cable lock ...

Great idea and well implemented!