Computer monitoring service LoJack for Laptops allows students to track lost or stolen computers.

According to Craig Jaccuzzo, University Police chief, the software is an anti-theft device that helps with the recovery of movable property.

If a student’s laptop is stolen on campus and the software was installed and activated on the laptop, the student should report the theft to University Police and then report it to LoJack through their profile.

According to absolute.com/lojackforlaptops, when a student installs the software onto a computer, the monitoring company will make contact with the computer once a day to collect basic data such as memory size, hard drive size, type of processor, type of operating system, user name, and IP and Mac addresses. If the student decides to activate the Geotechnology or GPS capabilities, the computer will report the location of the laptop.

Once the computer is reported stolen and accesses the Internet, the monitoring center will then make contact with the computer every 15 minutes. During these connections, the center is collecting data from the computer.

“They use the data they collected to prepare a report and then send it to the police. They also track the location of the computer using the IP address,” University Police Lieutenant Steve Tullis said.

There are two versions of LoJack that students can purchase. The standard version costs $29.99 for one year or $67.49 for three years. The premium version costs $44.99 for one year or $74.99 for three years. The difference in the two versions is the services that each provides.

The standard version offers the features that locate, lock, delete and recover. The locate feature allows the owner of the laptop to locate the computer when it is stolen or lost. The lock feature locks the computers and prevents a thief from getting in. The delete feature lets the owner delete personal information off the computer to prevent identity theft. The recover feature is the actual theft recovery team that will collect the data and try to find the computer.

The premium version offers all the same features as the standard but includes location history in the location feature and a guarantee. The guarantee is that if the company does not recover the laptop or enables the data delete service, the customer can be eligible for a service guarantee payment up to $1,000.

This software can assist students in the recovery of their computer and their personal information and items on the computer.

“In addition to getting their computer back, students often have very important papers, research and school work that is sometimes more valuable than the computer,” Tullis said. “There is currently a case open where the LoJack for laptops software is being used to locate a laptop stolen from campus.”

Students can purchase this software online at absolute.com/lojackforlaptops. The software is compatible with both PCs and Macs.