General Travel Advice – Page 3

Reporting Stolen Laptop

As part of my desperate efforts to salvage as much as I could after nasty laptop theft I quickly proceeded to let all relevant companies know that my laptop was stolen. When reporting a stolen laptop, I first thought of contacting Microsoft with the serial number of the operating system as Microsoft releases regular updates for Windows and if the thief or her accomplices broke into the laptop successfully, there might be a request for update from this particular serial number when it is connected to the internet. I certainly thought Microsoft may be able to trace the attempts to upgrade Widows Vista my laptop had installed (given unique serial number) and report it to the police or better yet, lock the operating system as it could be done with proven pirated copy.

Secondly, I reported stolen laptop to Samsung because they are the makers of it. Again – I wanted them to have my laptop’s serial number flagged as “stolen” in case there is a request for support or any other contact made using my laptop’s serial number. I knew the thief herself would not attempt to contact Samsung, but she was no computer user. She clearly stole it with intentions to sell it. And buyer of stolen laptop may eventually attempt to contact Samsung support which could lead to solid traces and possible recovery of the laptop.

Finally, I have also reported stolen laptop to Future Shop where I purchased the unit. Given that I also paid more than $300 for extended service plan, I thought they’d be willing to at least show some form of support to their loyal customer.

Sadly, each of the reports resulted in response that didn’t help. Microsoft Canada responded in less than 24 hours for which I commend them. Amazing support with fast response times. The response was written in an understandable language and to the point, sadly I was informed that due to privacy commitments, Microsoft cannot trace lost or stolen software when used by another individual, even if used illegally and was advised to report the theft to the police (which I have already done in the meantime). So much for high hopes with Microsoft, but their response was understandable. If they acted otherwise, everybody would complain that they invade their privacy too much and have too much remote control over their property. Ahh well.

Response from Samsung was way more useless. I got an email a few days later stating the following:

Unfortunately, the number “10126029-J502” is not the correct serial number, we are unable to accommodate your request at this point.

Well duh – it is not a valid number, but all other information I have provided when reporting stolen laptop was information exactly matching information I have registered my laptop with. I have also applied for free upgrade to Windows 7 that was provided complimentary by Samsung so they had all my information on file – my name, address, postal code, phone number, when it was purchased, where it was purchased, the model number, my email address, etc. Samsung has all this info on file yet their rep didn’t bother to verify it. At the time of reporting, I only had the receipt issued by the Future Shop which listed the item number in place of the serial number and that caused all the confusion. But it’s not like I had the laptop so I could flip it upside down to provide verified serial number. The rep could have at least gone through hassle of looking up my info to see that all other details provided were bang on, except from the serial number I had no means to get right. Useless Samsung rep and they do it just when you’re stressed the hell out of this world.

This was still nothing compared to the response from Future Shop. These guys simply did nothing. No response, not even as much as a middle finger. Just complete and thorough ignore on my desperate situation. Even if they just did as much as Microsoft – apologize that they are not in the position to help but would advice me to go to the police and file a report with them. This is polite and shows professionalism. Future Shop and professionalism are obviously two terms that don’t belong together. Future Shop only cares about getting your money when selling you the product but once they got the money, their care for you ends. Complete and utter disappointment there. Ignoring my report entirely is the lowest blow of all.

I followed up with Samsung by responding to the email which told me that they won’t do anything because I didn’t provide correct serial number only to find it back in my email inbox two weeks later. It bounced so no one did anything about it. I ended up calling them when I got back to Canada and my case was escalated to higher management who then contacted me via email to apologize for mishandling the situation and assured me that my serial number is flagged in their system and will notify me as well as the international police should they hear about my unit in some way.

What could I have done better when reporting stolen laptop? I was in the foreign country where I got robbed. I needed to file reports as soon as possible because the time was against me. I did my best given that I didn’t have the actual unit on me to verify correct serial number. None of the reports did me any good. Microsoft was the only company that responded in timely manner and did it very professionally. I’m still in further talks with Microsoft to see if there is anything that can be done. Samsung was a disappointment given the urgency and distress accompanying the report. Above all, Future Shop proved to be the worst electronics vendor in the world. Horrible, absolutely horrible mishandling of situation on their part.

Deleted Files Recovery

As I have mentioned before, the cost of a stolen laptop is much higher than just the value of the laptop itself. And for me that loss was immense. I have been working on upgrades for my websites to increase positive cash flow (aka passive income) and most of it went poof with my laptop, all of my email communication, both sent and received was dealt with using Microsoft Outlook 2007 I had installed on the laptop which means it went all poof after theft, including saved contacts of people I met and/or dealt with during my travels, various documents I was working on were on the laptop as well but most of all – I had all of my pictures and videos from the travels so far on that machine and with it gone, the media which I have not backed up were gone too. This was one of the biggest hits I took when I got my laptop stolen. Things around me were happening faster than I could write about it in my journal but I had pictures so I didn’t have to worry about anything. Pictures served as solid reminder of everything I went though so I was able to recall all memories and post about it even with months of delay. But with laptop gone, my memories went with it. It literally meant near complete paralysis of my journal with full interruption of updates until I could recover and resume writing from a new standpoint with all travels I have experienced so far missing.

This was a loss I was having hard time handling because pictures would keep the memories alive even after many years. I would be able to go through them at any point in my life and re-live the adventures I have gone through by just browsing through old photographs. Some of the photographs were extremely precious too – many involved people meeting with which changed my life. And now it was gone. The pain I was feeling could not be described.

My Canon digital camera uses Compact Flash cards to save captured images on. I was very reluctant to erase any of them as the card was getting filled up but new adventures were taking place every day and with them new pictures were being taken every day. The card I had in my camera had 8GB storage capacity – that’s a whole pile of images I could store on it. However the more images I had on it, the slower the previewing was getting. When I had 6000 images on the card, each time I wanted to preview an image taken, the process took forever so when I eventually filled the card up entirely, I made sure all of the images were saved on my laptop’s hard drive and I proceeded with the clear-up of the CF card by formatting. I remember I was in Pattaya, Thailand when I formatted my card.

With all the images safely stored on my laptop (at least I thought they were safe – I failed to take the over the top thievery in the Dominican Republic into account) I started using the card again knowing I had crap loads of space on it for thousands of new pictures. By the time my laptop was stolen, I had about 1/5 of the card filled with new pictures. At that point I realized that even though my laptop is gone and all pictures I had on it went with it, I still have my Compact Flash card on which the pictures were originally stored. And sure – I have formatted the card in the meantime removing all of the images from it and used part of its storage capacity to capture new images, but I knew very well that part of the card which has not been used up with new images would still store traces of old images and I may be able to recover some of them. I studied electrical engineering in high school and at the university and worked as a computer tech most of my working life. I consider myself to be reasonably computer savvy with vast programming knowledge and thorough understanding on how computer components, including storage devices such as hard drives are built. Besides, I’ve had previous experience with deleted files recovery only this time I was gonna do it for myself, not my friend.

When I first started working on computers, the machines used 386 Intel processors and ran on MS DOS operating systems. Because I had to put up with countless hard drive failures and data recovery (mostly due to hardware failure, not accidental deletion), I studied the hard drives and knew the process of how they are built and how their internal structure works backwards. When I first started messing around with computers in school, hard drives did not have FAT tables (File Allocation Tables) so you’d have to know physical location of each file on the hard drive in order to access it. Introduction of FAT tables made it much easier as now you’d just need to know file’s name and search for it as the appropriate sectors associated with this file would be called using references in the FAT table. I knew that deletion of files (accidental or intentional) simply removes the reference of those files from the FAT table but hard drive sectors still bear the data unless overwritten by new data. If the reference of the file is removed from the FAT table, the file will not be allocated and will appear as non existent on said hard drive. However unless data in sectors this file occupied were replaced with new data that are part of a whole new file, the recovery of that file is possible.

Since I had enough experience recovering lost or deleted files from hard drives, I was once called for help by a friend of mine who accidently SHIFT deleted wrong directory which contained important pictures. She was meaning to delete a different directory but clicked on the wrong name and her fingers acted faster than her brain was able to process what was happening and since she was used to SHIFT deleting her files (to bypass the storage in the Deleted Files Bin – which she found irritating), the whole directory went poof for her in a click of a button. She freaked out and unable to undo her actions, she called me up. This was my first real case of deleted files recovery I performed since I switched careers from being a computer tech to being a computer programmer. Obviously, my immediate instructions for my unfortunate friend who accidently SHIFT deleted her files were to quit doing anything on a computer, not save a thing even if she was working on something and disconnect it from the internet immediately. Deleted files are for the most part recoverable for as long as you do not replace the data in sectors where they were stored with new data. So if you save something you are working on, it may be saved in sectors used by files you are trying to recover which will render these files unrecoverable. Same goes for use of the internet as temporary internet files are stored on the computer’s hard drive and if you were saving your files on the same drive, they may be overwritten by the system as you use the internet. Hence your first and most important step in your efforts to recover deleted files is to prevent any new data from being written on the hard drive.

After I have given these instructions to my friend, I came over to her and was able to successfully recover about 98% of her accidentally deleted files. Sure, a couple were missing and a couple were corrupt, but she got vast majority back and after thinking that she may have lost them all, this was more than win for her. She was really glad I saved her pics.

And now with my laptop stolen and all pictures that were on it gone, I had one last chance to possibly recover some of them from the Compact Flash card I had in my camera. As obvious first step, I immediately stopped taking any pictures because with each new picture taken, I would irreversibly lose one or more of old pictures that may still be on that card. I turned my camera off and pulled the card out. The next step was to wait until I get back to Canada so I can get on a virus free computer and attempt recovery of deleted pictures. They were more than simply deleted as I have formatted the card prior to reuse, but I kept my hopes high and believed it will still be possible to recover most of the files from the space that has not been used up. Sadly, good part of the card had new pictures on it already, including some pictures I took in the Dominican Republic prior to laptop theft and whatever old files this space stored were forever gone, but most of card’s storage capacity has not been overwritten so chances of file recovery did exist. I could not wait to come back to Canada to see where exactly I’m at and whether this deleted files recovery can bring me some of my memories back.

Laptop Theft Prevention Tips

It wasn’t until I had my laptop stolen when I realized how important laptop theft prevention is. Statistically, in the United States alone, one laptop is stolen every minute. On a global scale the numbers are frightening. What’s even worse is the recovery rate – more than 97% of all stolen laptops is never recovered. Given that laptop theft is such frequently occurring crime and that chances of recovery are next to none, laptop theft prevention is absolutely crucial for every laptop owner. I have learned my lesson the hard way and it opened up my eyes to the reality and lead me to realize what I should have done to avoid getting my laptop stolen. I’m gonna share my hard way learned Laptop Theft Prevention Tips with you. Some of them are tips to help recover if theft or loss occur but they are as important as theft prevention tips hence are included:

Watermark Your Laptop

I’m not kidding – nobody does that but that’s the best laptop theft prevention tip ever. You won’t find this advice on any other list of laptop theft prevention tips, but let me explain where the power of it lies and how to properly execute it:

Watermarking your laptop basically means that you will freehand draw something on it in visible, large letters – something that will identify you as the rightful owner of the laptop and will identify everyone else as a thief. My stolen laptop was white. When I was buying it, I saw the white color as something very distasteful as it made my laptop look like a Mac Book which is truly awful. I have eventually decided to go for it since it was the best laptop with the best configuration and price available at the time. Looks were secondary, but overtime I’ve grown to like it despite Mac like white exterior color.

I should have taken advantage of white exterior and bought thick black permanent marker and write right across the case my name and email address. It’s no different to watermarking the images you upload on the internet to help identify you as the copyright owner if someone steals it to use illegally, or to putting a name tag on your check in luggage at the airport. Irremovable watermark on the laptop’s case makes it an easily and immediately recognizable unit. When reporting the theft to the police, if your laptop was watermarked, you would be able to offer an information that instantly identifies your laptop. There could be hundreds of thousands of white Samsung laptops out there, but had I watermarked it, there would be only one white Samsung laptop with huge handwriting which says my name and my email address. How is that for linking the laptop to myself?

Laptops that are not watermarked look like any other laptops, whereas a laptop that is watermarked looks like your particular one that was stolen. That is a powerful deterrent for a thief, a powerful deterrent for a potential buyer and a powerful means to make it back to you in case it ends up in wrong hands. I bought white laptop even though I didn’t like white color, because you don’t buy laptops for the looks. You buy them because they suit you for the use you intend to use them for. Looks are completely secondary so spoiling those looks with massive watermark will not diminish its functionality, but may help turn potential thieves off and even if stolen, could hugely assist in recovery. This is the best and easiest to apply laptop theft prevention tip ever. Most people buy laptops to use them. Unless you are one of few who buy laptops to sell them, then watermarking is not a good option, but if you are coughing up a grand so you can do computing on the road, watermarking your laptop can pay for itself in more ways than one.

And don’t worry if your laptop is not white like mine was. Even if it’s black – get yourself silver marker or use your sisters nail-polish. As an alternative, you can also use engraving. Carve your name on laptop’s lid. There’s no way anyone could remove it so your name will forever be associated with true ownership of this particular laptop.

Back-Up Your Data!

Important! Important! Important! Super important and then some. Back up your data often and always. And then back up again and when you’re done go and make another back up. Never neglect this need because it only takes a split second and your laptop could be gone. And like me, you will lose more than just the laptop itself. I lost my memories and the ability to post new updates from the rest of my trip in South East Asia. I lost work in progress I had on my websites, I lost important documents, sent and received emails, contact information on people I met during my travels – so much lost because I did not back up my data. I simply did not consider it an option that someone could steal my laptop. but as it goes, there are all kinds of people out there, including such who will steal from you when you are most vulnerable – when you are helping them because you expect them to be grateful not to be looking to rob you.

There are plain and simple two kinds of people in the world – those who back up their data regularly and those who have not lost their data yet. Data loss awaits around the corner to happen to you. Sooner or later some freak accident takes place and your data will be gone. Unless you have a solid back up (preferably more than one) everything that matters to you will be irreversibly gone. Do not ever neglect that. Smart people learn from other people’s mistake – be a smart person and learn from my mistake. Back up your data right now. You turn your head one way, turn it back and your laptop could be gone. Thieves are extremely skilled these days and know how to go about stealing successfully. Back ups are important. Besides, you can buy a large enough USB stick for a few bucks which will make backing up easy, quick and inexpensive. You can go through DVD burning or use of online backup services – the more you use, the better but even if you don’t like the hassle, you still have many options available to you. Do it. Don’t be like me thinking that this could never happen to you. Back up your data right now. It’s that important. I won’t hesitate to repeat it like a broken record over and over because it is the strongest truths of all.

Never Store Sensitive Data on a Laptop

As mentioned above, laptop theft is a common occurrence. Don’t assume for one second that it could never happen to you. I’m the most careful guy in the world who also knows what he’s doing when he’s on a computer yet I had my laptop stolen. On some days you are less alert than on others, on some days you are frustrated by external sources – all of this affects you and leaves you potentially vulnerable to laptop theft. And thieves are always out there and always looking for a guy or girl who is not having the best day of their lives today. When it rains it pours and misery likes company. I was having the shittiest day in a long time when I had my laptop stolen. Always assume that thieves are out there and ask yourself: what would happen if they stole my laptop today? Act accordingly!

Assume that you could have your laptop stolen in the next minute, so never have any of your login information set to remember on your laptop. Never check off any of those “Remember Me on This Computer” check boxes. Never choose to have any cookies stored locally to prevent you from always having to type in log in credentials when you are visiting your favorite sites. That especially applies when dealing with bank accounts or other institutions where financial information is exchanged. It’s much easier to have to type it in each time you need to get in the site than to have to go through recovery of moved assets or worse. Always act as if your laptop could get stolen any minute. You have no idea how much headache you save yourself from.

Set Up Boot Password

This is one thing I did and it still works on my behalf even with laptop gone. It is quite possible that thief or her accomplices have not yet got into my laptop only thanks to the boot password. When it comes to laptop theft aftermath, this is one of the strongest protection layers you have. To set up your boot password on a PC, you need to access BIOS menu which can be done by pressing one of the F keys on your keyboard. It used to be F1 or F2 or DEL back on older versions of Windows, but with my Samsung laptop it was the F10 key. It may be different on different models but usually before the operating system starts loading, the message briefly pops letting you know what to press to access the BIOS setup utility menu. It could be a single key or a combination of keys (such as CTRL + ALT + ESC).

Once you are in the BIOS setup utility, find where to set up boot password (could also be called user password, system password, or power-on password) and choose something that is not a dictionary word and is difficult or impossible to guess. I myself was using foreign word from an unusual language and had it purposefully misspelled. Having a Windows password is also good, but this is easier to bypass. Boot password is much more difficult and depending on the version of BIOS installed, could be near impossible without actual hardware replacements or resets.

Once you have your boot password successfully set up, it will be the first thing you will need to enter for the laptop to start doing anything. It won’t even initiate loading of the operating system unless correct boot password was entered. It could be a bit of a hassle to have to enter it each time you start up your computer, but you’ll be happy you had it.

Password Protect Screensaver Resumption

I had my screensaver set up to turn on after 3 minutes of inactivity. This is a very short time, but considering that it’s a laptop we’re talking about, I never wanted anyone to possibly get into it easily when I need to get on the phone or have other distraction taking my focus away from the laptop. This was a great idea even though created a little bit of a headache at times. An important part of this set up was to require a Windows password on resumption so when screensaver was activate, when the mouse was moved it went away, but required password to let a person in the operating system. Very good idea with laptops and a highly recommended theft prevention tip.

Install Stolen Laptop Tracking Software

Again, this was one of the things I have severely neglected and it limited my recovery options after my laptop was stolen. Laptop theft recovery software is not perfect, but at least it’s something that can help track down your laptop. There are several options out there but none of them seems perfect, however they are better than nothing:

LoJack for Laptops is a stolen laptop tracking program from Absolute Software. It requires annual subscription payments but Absolute has members on staff who know what to do when theft takes place. When you ping them regarding laptop theft, they will report it to appropriate authorities and work with them on recovery taking a lot off your shoulders. Their software will allow you to take certain actions when your stolen laptop connects to internet – you could remotely delete data if for example your laptop had sensitive personal information on it or you could continue tracking it with quite precise location trace. If your laptop is also equipped with a webcam, LoJack for Laptops will take a screenshot of what webcam can see which will likely uncover what the thief looks like right there. Since LoJack for Laptops resides in your BIOS not as part of the operating system, it activates upon start up of the laptop. You can buy 1 year of LoJack for Laptop service for $59.99 or 3 years for $109.99. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like LoJack for Laptops works reliably (if at all) outside of the USA. More info on Absolute.com.

GadgetTrak is another software similar to LoJack for Laptops. It is installed on the machine and resides idling until you activate it using a web browser. So in the event of laptop theft, you can either go to an internet cafe or use your cell phone with enabled web browsing and with a click of a button the software on the laptop takes pictures of what your webcam can see and will send you its geographical location. The software promises to be privacy friendly claiming that all info collected by the software is only sent to your email or your flickr account, not to the company. GadgetTrak subscription services start at $19.99 a year. More info on GadgetTrak.com.

Prey Project – unlike above mentioned two softwares, Prey is an open source solution, which means it is free to use and free to modify. Prey is supported by a team of enthusiastic programmers from around the world and is under constant development so improved features are coming all the time. It works great and does exactly what it says it would (tracking stolen laptops) but unlike LoJack for Windows, it doesn’t have manpower behind it to work with the police in efforts to help recover your stolen laptop. Prey resides silently on the laptop and checks periodically whether there are any open wifi signals and if so, it connects to the internet and checks whether it has been “ordered” to start sending tracking information to the rightful owner. The downside is that because it is an installed software, it can be removed or bypassed from the system if laptop is handled by a computer savvy thief. LoJack resides in computer BIOS which makes it much more resilient to removal. Being open source, Prey can also be abused to track other people – if I installed in on your computer, I could at any time toggle the switch to “stolen” and the software would send me your location, your IP and MAC addresses, a screenshot of your desktop and a shot from your laptop’s webcam. It would do what it is programmed to do which can also be used for unfair purposes. As an inexpensive (understand: FREE) laptop theft tracking software, Prey is amazing. You will just have to take care of notifying authorities on your own. You will get info, but Prey doesn’t have the resources to do anything with that info on your behalf, unlike LoJack for Laptops, for example. More info on PreyProject.com.

Phoenix FailSafe – I was told about Phoenix FailSafe by Samsung representative after I have reported my laptop theft to them. Failsafe is apparently routinely installed nn most Dell and Samsung computers, but because Q320 is such a new model, FailSafe was not on it (and still is not). It does look like a useable solution. Similar to LoJack for Laptops, FailSafe operates at BIOS layer making it operational as soon as the computer starts executing first instructions, rather than after the operating system has been loaded and is more resistant to software and hardware removal. Because FailSafe operates on BIOS level, it can safely and securely disable the computer and lock the hard drive. I have not used FailSafe because my machine didn’t come pre-installed with it, but it appears to be pretty solid and near fool-proof. When I get myself a replacement laptop, I will be looking at this option more closely. Additional info on FailSafe.com.

EDIT – it appears as though FailSafe service cannot be purchased. It can only be had if it’s part of the new computer you are buying. Select Dell Notebooks and Samsung Go Netbooks come with it and can have the feature activated for $39.95 for 1 year or $79.95 for 3 years. It’s a solid solution that resides in computer BIOS and will not stop working on your behalf even if thief replaced hard drives with new operating system, but inability to have it on any laptop limits its usability. Perhaps Phoenix will offer an option to have it installed on any computer soon.

Mark Down Laptop’s Info

Always have vital information about your laptop at a place easily accessible to you. The best bet is to email it to your web based email address so you can access it from any computer that’s connected to the internet and find it there if needed. You will need at least model name and number and a serial number. Additional information, such as screen size, RAM memory, HDD size, when it was purchased, etc could also be helpful.

Buy Laptop Lock

Laptop Locks are fairly inexpensive cables that can be securely fastened to most laptops (I have not seen any new laptop without a Kensington Security Slot for a Laptop Lock). The other end of the cable you can secure either against something stationary (a desk for example) or something large, such as your bag which will make it more difficult to sneakily steal it. It’s a small investment but a big help and a possible buster of all laptop theft attempts when dealt with properly.

Use Full Disk Encryption

Having your hard drive encrypted is not a costly matter and is not difficult at all. Stolen laptops often end up with replaced hard drivers or get the original hard driver formatted but thief may attempt to read the data on a removed hard drive first to see if any interesting information that could help him come by your money can be found there. Full Disc Encryption cannot get you your data back, but it can prevent the thief from easily reading it. At least you’d know that they can’t access everything you had on your hard drive even if you can’t get it back.

Don’t Take Your Eyes Off Your Laptop

This is the single most important laptop theft prevention tip in existence. This was the reason why the thief who stole my laptop succeeded with it – I had my laptop on the rear seat while I was driving. It was off my sight while I had my eyes locked on the road. This creates suitable conditions for both opportunist thieves as well as pros that are always on a look out for something available to steal (like the one who stole my laptop). Due to slick, flat design of laptops, they can be easily and quickly snuck inside a bag and will not stick out to be easily noticed once there. They are plain and simple easy targets for theft. Never ever take your eyes off your laptop or when you go back to lend your eyes on it, it may not be there anymore. Disguise your laptop as much as you can and if possible, don’t allow others to see you have it in the first place. If you need to use it in a public place, make sure you use Laptop Lock (see above) and have it fastened to something stationary. In case like mine – if you are driving, have your laptop locked against the door handle and if possible, lock it in the trunk where no one can get. If you can’t have your laptop firmly in your hands or in your sight, make sure it is locked up safely.

Don’t Use Laptop Cases for Your Laptop

Using non descriptive bags will not raise alarms in thieves’ eyes that you have a laptop on you. If you walk around with a carrying case designed for laptops, especially if it’s a brand name case which bears a name of a laptop manufacturer instantly identifies you as a person with a laptop and thieves will have their eyes locked on you and will wait for the right moment to steal.

Use Privacy Sweeping Software

Install and regularly use privacy sweeping software to hide traces of your online activities. I have been using free to install and use Advanced System Care from IObit and have been very happy with it. It speeds up your computer and can prevent crashes, but it will also remove traces of your on line activities so if unlucky event of laptop theft befalls on you, the thieves won’t have full access to what you have done on line, which sites you have visited and what log in names you used since you started using the laptop. It’s easy and free to install IObit utility and it does a great job. More info and download on IObit.com.

I hope these Laptop Theft Prevention Tips were helpful. The best advice I can give you is that you learn from my mistake and take preventative measures to ensure that laptop theft doesn’t happen to you. Also take preventative measures so when it does happen to you, so you can maximize your chances of laptop recovery or deletion of sensitive data. According to the FBI statistics, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds in the USA alone and less than 3% are recovered. Imagine what it’s like on a worldwide scale. Laptop theft is obviously a popular one and hard to revert, yet laptops are devices that bear some of the most important and most sensitive information. Guard them with care and take all steps necessary to prevent laptop theft. Tips provided within are offered with best intentions to help you avoid the same hell I had to and still have to go through because I have neglected some of those. Laptop theft is horrible, learn from these tips and apply them to avoid this crap.

Laptop Theft Prevention

Laptop theft prevention is something many laptop owners don’t give enough attention to. I know I never did myself and I come from a computer background. Taking care of your laptop and sensitive data it contains by preventing its theft should be the utmost priority of every laptop owner yet it is so often overlooked. Laptop is unlike anything else you own. I can guarantee you that if you had a thousand dollar laptop stolen along with a ten thousand dollar Swiss watch, it would be that laptop that will cause more grief and headache and will be missed more. It’s because laptop is not just a fancy piece of latest technology. Laptop is also a storage device for some of your most valuable and treasured memories, information, work and more. Laptop theft prevention should truly be the priority and focus of every laptop owner and should be taken care of before you leave safety of your home with your precious laptop in the bag.

When I realized my laptop was stolen, I had pictures of all that went with it flash before my eyes. Stolen laptop means more loss than just the top of the line, supercharged machine I paid $1.600 for. I had countless documents I was working on on that computer – they are all gone. I had all the pictures from my 4 months trip in South East Asia on it – they are also all gone. I had videos there, all sent and received emails, contact information on friends I have made throughout my travels so far, updates for website I was working on – so much of essential work and personal stuff – all gone with just one act of a thief. It gave me chills when I realized that I will no longer be able to update this journal because all of the pictures I had from the trip were on that laptop. Some of the experiences I had documented with pictures could be relived, but some could not. There were some precious once in a lifetime encounters with other people from different walks of life I may never have another chance to meet and even if I do, their life’s path will have changed. All of this was gone with laptop.

While I was still in the Dominican Republic, I went to the internet cafe in San Pedro de Macoris to take immediate care of essentials after laptop theft. I have neglected laptop theft prevention so I had to deal with the aftereffects. I had to change countless passwords and edit access information to my server, website databases, email address accounts and personally sensitive areas of websites I’m a member of. The efforts of securing my own life and preventing identity thefts have been ongoing since and already took weeks of my time. Laptop theft is so serious.

After I have taken care of personal information security, I proceeded with additional essential steps. I have immediately notified Microsoft with serial number of Windows Vista operating system that was installed on my stolen laptop in hope that they are able to trace when this serial number connects to the internet and makes requests from Microsoft servers for upgrades or other services. I have also notified Samsung with the serial number of the laptop requesting them to have this serial number flagged as stolen so they can immediately notify international police should there be a trace of it or a request for support from whoever becomes its next owner. Finally, I have also notified Future Shop of this laptop theft. I purchased this machine at Future Shop in Edmonton along with $300 worth of 3 year service plan.

Had I taken better care of laptop theft prevention I could have saved myself from all this headache. I didn’t get a chance to get on line until 2 days after laptop had been stolen so I hoped whoever ended up having the laptop is not too experienced a hacker so they won’t find a quick way past the boot password I had on the machine. I was so glad I had that boot password in place – it was a bit of a hassle to have to put up with it while I was using the laptop but now that laptop was gone it proved invaluable. It does little as laptop theft prevention, but it either completely disables, or at least significantly slows access to the computer itself.

I knew that the thief will have to take the laptop to an expert in order to gain access to it and even if he’s really good at computers, he’ll be having hard time hacking into this one. Boot password on a laptop will require actual hardware reset – is possible at all. Hacker would need to open the unit to get into its guts and manually find a way to bust BIOS or replace BIOS chip entirely. That’s a lot of headache if… again – possible at all.

Laptop theft is a horrible experience. I have never considered it an option which was a mistake on my part. Most of all, I would never have thought that someone I am helping would steal my laptop. It’s a horrible experience but it opened up my eyes to the fact that there are many bad people out there and one can never be too careful. It also proved that laptops are very easy to steal. Their flat profile allows for fast and easy slip into any bag and because of flat surface it will not stick out when inside the bag. I had a digital SLR camera on the rear seat along with the laptop which was much more expensive and had yet more expensive lens mounted on it. Yet the thief did not dare to steal that one because the shape doesn’t allow for quick and easy slide into a bag and even if it made it to thief’s bag, the 3-dimensional proportions of a camera could give it out. That’s clearly why the thief opted for laptop theft. Unfortunately, even though laptop is less expensive than a DSLR camera, its overall value goes way beyond that of a camera, simply because of valuable, irreplaceable and personally identifiable data on it. Again, unlike with other electronic devices, laptop theft prevention is more important you could comprehend.

Every laptop owner should take laptop theft prevention very seriously. Learn from my mistake and don’t become the next victim of laptop theft. You are never suspicious enough when it comes to laptops and if your laptop is not in your reach or in your sight, know that it can be easily stolen. Dishonest people are always on a lookout for easy targets to steal and as you can see from my case – people won’t hesitate to steal from you even as you are helping them. Don’t be too trusting and never assume people are friendly with you because they like you. It is not until you pay for not being suspicious enough by seeing your valuable property stolen when you realize that bad people are everywhere, including at places where you least expect it. Laptop theft is a devastating experience and goes way beyond lost monetary value. Prevention is your best option. More than 97% of all stolen laptops are never recovered so prevention is virtually all you have. Laptop is more valuable than you care to realize. Don’t be the next victim of laptop theft. Take any and all necessary measures to prevent it. Take laptop theft p[prevention as the only way to avoid going through the same hell I am going through.

Why I Never Give to the Beggars and Why Neither Should You

As you travel through the third world countries, you will encounter beggars a lot. As a budget traveller who’s on the tour around the world, I have to spend wisely and giving away may in return put me in a position of a hungry and a lost. Furthermore, beggars who sell trinkets of no value on a pretense of working so they don’t have to beg are a no no for someone like me as well. If you move from place to place and none is your long stay home, you carry all you have with you. In such cases there is simply no room for anything that’s not essential. But none of these are main reasons why I never give to the beggars and why neither should you.

Who Are the Beggars?

When you set foot in third world countries, you will notice that beggars are always people who are intensely difficult to say no to: children, old people, visibly disabled, etc. It is not unusual to see a 7 year old boy carrying his 2 year old little sister with big, beaming eyes locked on your food in his arms. He would gently tap you while you’re lavishing on your breakfast and would make a movement with his available hand to simulate the food putting in his mouth. He will bear a very sad face, often with cheeks visibly marked with tears and his little sister will add to it by delivering the look of a completely innocent, yet hungry child. How do you say no to that?

And that’s exactly it – “how do you say no to that?” People who send those kids after tourists to beg them out of money realize that it is near impossible to say no to children like that. That’s why they send them and don’t go begging themselves. Children are easy to exploit and so are old and visibly disabled people. When you see an old person who should be enjoying their retirement after whole life of hard work, but instead looks in bad shape, underfed, dirty wearing worn out clothes, you can’t help but feel sorry and willing to help. But sadly, more often than not, they are out there because their looks are so striking, they are more likely to succeed. And are easy to force into begging.

It is the same with visibly disabled people. When you see a person with both arms missing and a sign hung on his neck stating that he has no chance at getting a job being disabled in a country with extremely high unemployment, you can easily relate and feel sorry for the person. Fact is, they scarcely have easy lives no matter where they live, but their custom tailored “sales copy” with which they appeal to you clearly shows how well they are prepared for begging and how well polished their begging methods are.

Fact of a matter is, it’s always people who are strikingly difficult to resist because their looks will touch the soft spot of even the toughest of persons who go out begging. That fact itself should raise alarms and say a lot about how easy these people could be potentially exploited or abused to benefit from their misfortunes.

Things Beggars Say

There are certain things beggars like to say. They are in it for one and only reason – to get as much money out of other people as possible. This is their sole purpose and they are ready and willing to do/say whatever it takes to ensure maximum efficiency of their “performance”. They know darn well that if they said that they are only begging because their parents told them they would not buy them new bicycle unless they bring in $20 a day, it may not tarnish desired results. Hence they will say whatever appears to work the best, whatever appears to deliver results (make most people give most money). To say what they want to hear, instead of what you want to say is a known and safe method to achieve a goal not only among beggars, but also among many other professions.

When a lawyer makes closing speech before the members of jury, he/she will focus on highlighting things he/she believes will have the strongest impact on this particular set up of jurors. Picking up right lines to say is the key between winning or losing the case. And it’s no different with begging. Whether and how much is a beggar going to get from any particular person depends on what he/she says and how well he/she presents him/herself. Similarly, when hamburger company chooses the lines for their TV advertising, they will say what is most likely to get people to buy their hamburgers. They won’t base their sales pitch on how much MSG is stuffed in each patty or that occasional rats make it to the grinder where their patties are mass produced. No. They will say whatever is most likely to make your fat ass to get off the chair and buy one.

It is no different with beggars. Polished from talking to hundreds, maybe thousands of people each month, they already know what works the best and can even assess what would work best with which person. Believing that a sob story presented to you is true would be rather foolish. While some may be based on the truth, always keep in mind that beggars solely and strictly say what is most likely to yield best results (aka make you give them cash).

Why Giving to the Beggars Causes More Harm Than Good

The more easy money the beggars get, the more encouraged they will be to continue begging. If begging remains a profitable venture, why would they even consider trying something else? Parents will continue forcing their children onto the streets and pimps will continue exploiting the weak and disabled onto the same.

What To Do If You DO Have Money to Spare and Wish to Help Regardless?

The best thing to do is to take your funds to a charity with good track record of helping people in need. Local charities should have it down and know the people who really need help and also know those who just exploit children and disabled. This would distribute your contributions effectively and would target those you intend to target.

If you can’t help the urge and feel sincere need to help a beggar on the spot, buy them food or give them the rest of what you were eating when they approached you. Avoid giving them money or anything that has monetary value and can be taken to a pawn shop to sell. If you truly believe they are poor and need help, then there is nothing more important for them than good meal. Even inexpensive fruit would do the trick as it’s a tasty and nutritious snack. If you do give them money, they may not even get food as a result. Pimps could be watching from a car nearby and beggars would know it.

Don’t encourage begging and abuse by the pimps and parents. Don’t give beggars any money. You best not give anything to get these people off the streets because when there is no money to be made begging, no one will beg.

Buying Travel Insurance in Canada

If you’re traveling abroad, you definitely want to buy good Travel Insurance. At least that’s what all insurance companies tell us. Vast majority of people who buy travel insurance waste money on it, however those few who do get involved in an accident or become severely sick abroad would be in lifetime debt had they not bought the insurance prior to the trip. Buying travel insurance is obviously a big deal and an important decision to make prior to the trip. I faced the same issue myself – where do I go to buy best travel insurance in Canada?

Savvy travellers know that most travel insurances offered along with travel packages are a major rip off. Each time you buy a travel insurance along with the vacation package, you are overpaying hard core. This is somewhat understandable as majority of mainstream travel agencies sell mostly sun vacations which are so competitive, they are priced very low and deliver minimal mark-up. If travel agencies were to sell nothing but those popular vacation packages, they would not stay afloat for a very long time. Luckily there are travel insurances and that’s where they get you. While mark-up on popular vacation packages is minimal, mark-up on travel insurances most people buy along with the vacation is outrageous.

It is no different than extended warranties for electronics. It’s only thanks to those that big box stores are able to sell laptops and other gadgets for so cheap. So I’m OK with the fact that most people allow themselves to get ripped off on extended warranties or travel insurances. I’m one of the few who don’t fall for this but the reason I can get away with it is because majority of populace does get ripped off on overpriced travel insurances so travel agencies do have a buffer to work with and can let one person slip without buying one every once and again.

Here’s a comparison:

If you buy a Vacation to the Caribbean (Cuba or the Dominican Republic, for example) in Canada, the weeklong, all-inclusive package will cost you on average $800 plus taxes. Travel insurance for your weeklong stay will start at $80 and will go up to some $130 for a more complete package. You easily end up paying 10% or more of the cost of your all inclusive stay on top of the vacation for your travel insurance that covers you for a week.

Your other option is to call Blue Cross Canada and buy an annual insurance from them for the cost of $68 (in Alberta, not sure about other Canadian provinces and territories). This insurance covers your first 30 days of any stay abroad you take within a year from the validity of your insurance. That means that if you travel abroad let’s say 6 times a year and each of your stays is 30 days long or shorter, then this one time payment of $68 for the travel insurance covers your each trip.

If you didn’t buy this Blue Cross coverage, but instead purchased insurance individually each time you travel, you would be looking at a combined cost of $600 or more ($100 on average for each of your six trips, however if you take 30 day trips, the cost of insurance would be higher. $100 is typical for a one week vacation).

Photo: My Blue Cross Canada Travel Insurance Card for 2010/2011

There are some terms of service associated with the Blue Cross travel insurance, for example that it doesn’t cover travel through war zones or other areas with advisories against travel to these areas issued by Foreign Affairs of Canada (published on voyage.gc.ca) so you do need to review it before purchasing, however for a normal travel through save and somewhat safe country, Blue Cross insurance covers you perfectly well for the initial 30 days of your stay abroad.

This is what I went with to Cuba, Dominican Republic and Iceland and since I still had 5 months of Blue Cross insurance left, I didn’t buy any additional coverage. I thought that my strategy would be to leave the country and move to another country after a month. Most tourist visas are valid for a month only anyway so unless you extend, you would end up leaving the country anyway. This way I’d be covered with my Blue Cross for the duration of following 5 months.

I remained opened to the possibility of buying health insurance from one of the insurance providers available in a country where I would decide to stay for an extended period of time. It only made sense that buying health coverage from Canada to insure me in a third world country would be expensive. But buying the same insurance from an insurance company that operates in that very country should offer the same type of coverage, but be noticeably less expensive to buy. And that was my plan when I was leaving for the long term travel. I didn’t have any solid travel insurance to cover me no matter what because I didn’t have the amount of money they cost. But I did have it figured out reasonably well to remain covered in case poop hits the fan.

Best Way to Rent a Car with Avis Coupon

I found the best way to Rent a Car worldwide which I want to share with you. Not only is it the best way to rent a car, it’s also the cheapest. It’s just a simple Avis coupon code that works wonders when it comes to bumping the price of your car rental down. And given that Avis have offices worldwide – virtually in any country where car rentals are possible, this little trick can hook you up with well maintained vehicle for a great price.

I found out about it as I was looking for the ways to rent a car in Iceland but was not willing to pay $1,000+ for a ten day rental. Iceland is a very expensive country and it’s reflected in prices of their car rentals. I wanted to make the best out of my 10 day trip so in order not to waste time waiting around for buses and to be able to also access more remote places, I saw car rental as the best solution. But since it’s so extremely expensive to rent a car in Iceland, I had to work out some magic and find a solution that would hook me up with a car, but prevent me from spending more than a grand for it.

To make a long story short, my research has eventually lead me to the Avis coupon code which can cut the normal price down to near one half of it. It worked in Iceland, it worked in the Dominican Republic, it worked in Canada and will likely work in most destinations where Avis has their offices. How much discount you will get varies from one country to another but I have not found any better way to get less expensive, yet internationally backed up car rental since.

To get to the best way to rent a car, go to Avis.com and select your country of origin from the Country/Language drop down menu (or you can go directly to Avis.ca if you are Canadian). Choose your date and time for pick up and return and then choose your pick up location. This is all pretty standard stuff that will get regularly priced quotes. In order to get much better prices, you need to enter following code in the AWD (Avis Worldwide Discount code) field:

K444404

PHOTO: Screenshot from Avis.ca Website Shows Where to Paste the AWC Discount Code

Previously normal car rental prices will now be slashed into much more attractive level. I have never seen car rentals for better price than when using Avis with this code. Good thing is, that after three different rentals in three different countries using Avis and this discount code, I have never been asked any questions. Nothing. You just paste it in the AWD field and make a reservation. Car will be waiting for you at your chosen location and when you return it, you will be given the receipt with the price you were quoted by the website and that price will be charged to the credit card you have provided the Avis representative with when you were picking your car up. It worked for me in Iceland, it worked for me in Canada and it worked for me in the Dominican Republic. No questions asked. None whatsoever.

Then again, given Avis’ international reputation, I would not expect anyone ever questioning the code or where you got it from. Avis are in it to be a worldwide leader in car rental services. They want your business and will be glad you have chosen them over a competitor. It’s none of employee’s business to question where you got which code from. But most of all, they are there to provide you with a reliable car and process your pick up and return in a courteous and professional manner. They are not booking agents so chances of anyone at the pick-up location questioning the code are virtually nonexistent. Based on my experience so far it is exactly like that but if you think about it, I don’t see how it could possibly create an issue at pick up location so I believe you can safely use the code and enjoy the benefits of great rental prices.

And remember – don’t worry about feeling guilty. Avis is a multimillion dollar company. You are bringing them business that’s profitable for them any way you spin it. The fact that you are not paying the normal price does not mean that you are ripping them off. Far from it. You are just being a smart renter and paying a price that’s fair, not a price that other’s who don’t do their homework have to pay. Each time I see people paying retail prices for travel and tourism related goods and services, I quietly laugh on the inside knowing that I saved myself from being overcharged.

Longer Vacation is Cheaper – Explained

When I took a trip to Iceland, I was able to balance the total cost of it to a point that even though it’s one of the most expensive countries in the world, I only spent a little over $1,500 for 10 days, which included return plane tickets from Edmonton to Reykjavik and back, car rental for the duration of my stay, entrance fees to attractions which count as some of the most expensive in the world, food, drink, gasoline, lodging and all other associated costs. Yet despite my ability to get the most out of the trip for an unbeatable price, compared to my previous trips to Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the trip ended up being almost twice as expensive. Sure, the distance was significantly longer and country is significantly more expensive. However, after I have returned, I realized that an entire trip would have cost me way less, had I spent 1 month in the country, instead of original 10 days. Yes, what I’m saying is that longer vacation is cheaper. How is that possible? Let me explain.

Looks at it this way – if you take your normal vacation by using the vacation time allocated to you by your employer, you will leave for your destination while keeping arrangements with your current residence in your home country. That means that if you are renting a house, you will have to pay your monthly rent regardless of whether you are at home or gone on vacation. If you are a home owner, your property taxes will apply regardless of whether you are in the house or not. And if you live in Canada, the ridiculously high delivery and administration charges added to your power bill will be applied regardless of whether you have used any electricity, or not. I don’t know what it’s like in other countries, but in Canada the amount of money you are charged for electricity used is often less than delivery and administration charges. In my particular case, the power bill for the apartment where I was staying when I took the trip to Iceland totalled up to about $50 a month. Out of which, only about $5 were actual electricity usage charges. Epcor likes to bump up your power bill with their own charges which are so inadequate, I don’t understand how it’s not illegal and how they get away with ripping people off like this.

On top of your rent and electricity, you also have the internet, cable TV, mobile phone, and whatever other month to month bills apply to you. These you will pay for normally even if you have not been in the country half of the month. So basically – if you cancelled all of it, you would end up with positive four digit figure which would easily be enough to extend your vacation to last a month.

If I made arrangements with my landlord that I would move out of the apartment on the day I was leaving for Iceland, I wouldn’t have to pay my $850 a month which would be more than enough to sustain my stay in the country for extra 2 or three weeks. If I also cancelled the electricity and the internet, and if I temporarily suspended my cell phone number, I’d be looking at a thousand dollars saved.

It really made no sense taking a 10 day vacation in Iceland. While I was there, in one of world’s most expensive countries, the money for amenities in Canada was being paid out of my pocket even though I wasn’t using any of it. Rent for an apartment where I was not staying was paid yet I had to cover for my lodging in Iceland. In other words, I was paying rent for two places at the same time, while I could physically only be in one.

The lesson I have learned, was that one of the keys to frugal travel is to book your vacation and make arrangements in your home country for a month. One week or two week vacation ends up being a costly endeavour which is why so many people either can’t afford it, or can only take one or two a year. It’s simply because you are wasting a lot of your money on things you are not using and end up covering for two simultaneous services while only using one at a time.