Before heading out to the local hot spot, make sure you have some sort of anti-theft protection on your laptop. San Francisco alone has the highest number of laptop robberies in the Bay Area according to the SF Gate. The SF Police reported 48 laptop robberies in 2005 and 18 as of March of this year. Podjackings are turning into iJackings that endanger the lives of folks who are just working out of a coffee shop. So next the time you're surfing the Internet at the local cafe make sure you stay vigilant and don't get too absorbed in your work. Your safety is more important than anything happening online.

Protect Your Investment

One way to recover your laptop if stolen is by installing global positioning system (GPS) software. Computrace LoJack for Laptops silently dials in to a Monitoring Center when connected to the Internet. If your laptop gets stolen it sends a high-alert signal every 15 minutes to a recovery team who tracks your laptop location, and provides this information to law enforcement officials. It currently works only for Windows XP systems, but a Mac version is planned for this summer. For Mac users you can download Orbicule which works with iSight to transmit pictures of the thief. It also tracks the laptop through IP addresses and transmits screenshots of sites visited while stolen. If that fails the program has a Plan B that simulates a hardware failure that makes the screen darker until it becomes unusable.

Lock Down and Screamers

A cheaper way to deter a robbery is to attach a security cable to your laptop. It's a lot more visible and it could potentially discourage thieves. Targus has security cables for laptops and iPods. Another option is Kensington's MicroSaver Alarmed Lock with an audible alarm that can be heard 50 feet away. I'm all for scaring away thieves in a loud and obnoxious way. Which is why I also like the Filsaver PC-Card from Kukuyo that lets out 110 decibels of ear-piercing noise through your computers speakers if moved.

Whatever you do to protect your investment is better than not doing anything at all. If you have any other tools that work for you now don't hesitate to share them here.