Discussions

An unfortunate reality that all road warriors have to contend with is the relative ease at which a nefarious character could steal data or even an entire notebook. Their small form factors, coupled with the fact that they're often used while in transit, means notebooks are a prime target for theft.

To date, most notebook manufacturers try help users combat theft incorporating only basic deterrents into their machines, like BIOS level passwords, Kensington-compatible lock ports, and fingerprint scanners. And while these devices do offer some level of protection, there are many things that can, and perhaps should, be done to better protect mobile users.

If you've already got a notebook, at the very least, you should be setting strong passwords, using software firewalls and anti-malware software, and using whatever built-in mechanisms are already incorporated into your notebook to protect the machine itself and its data. For new and upcoming notebooks, however, there are a number of useful items I'd love to see offered as standard equipment.

For example, custom fit, removable screen guards, that only allow viewing the screen from a certain angle would be quite useful for some users and could prevent data theft due to shoulder-surfing. Also, hardware-level hard drive encryption would be a huge plus--who knows how many trade / government secrets, SSNs and Credit Card numbers could have already been kept out of the hands of shady characters, had the drives on the notebooks that had been stolen to obtain them had been encrypted. As an aside, I'd love to see newer notebooks ship with easily removable, encrypted hard drive enclosures--when not in use, the drives could be easily separated from the notebook and stored in another location for another layer of security.

Another feature that would be incredibly useful is some sort of hardware-level homing signal, that transmits the notebook's location anytime its connected to a network--regardless of whether the OS has booted. Some machines have similar features built in and there are applications available that work similarly, but something that works even if the notebook's hard drive has been removed and wiped clean would be immensely useful.

There are dozens of other things I could list as well, but I'm interested in what you all have to say. What steps do you take to keep your notebook safe? Are there any tips or tricks you could share that may come in handy for other users?  And what type of features would you like to see available in a future notebook? Now's the time to tell...