Prey is a free piece of software at http://preyproject.com that you can install on your laptop and then forget about. If your laptop is stolen, you can - when it connects to the net - start it running by inputting a command on another machine.
It can then do some fascinating things, such as taking a photograph of the person who is using it, grab screenshots of active sessions, locate via GPS or wifi hotspots and you can also lock it.
A fascinating tool, but hopefully you'll never need it.
Phil Bradley in CILIP Update
