Laptop owners are facing a great challenge today in protecting their laptops and the data stored in the device.

One in 15 laptops are stolen or lost according to Gartner Group. A laptop theft costs the owner a far greater amount than the price of the hardware itself.

The threats are not only coming from the outside but also from the inside. HDD (Hard disk drive) failure is a common laptop problem.

When HDD is damaged or encounters errors, the data in the HDD may be lost permanently.

LAlarm™ is laptop alarm software that sounds an alarm when a laptop is in danger of being stolen or losing data.

LAlarm consists of 3 alarms: theft alarm, disk alarm and battery alarm. The theft alarm alerts when a thief tries to steal.

The disk alarm alerts when the HDD is damaged or encounters errors. The battery alarm alerts when the battery level is low.

The theft alarm emits a loud siren sound when a thief tries to steal a laptop. For example, removing the AC power cord from a locked laptop will trigger the alarm.

The theft alarm feature is useful because laptop theft is common and a constant threat to laptop security.

The San Francisco Police Department finds that laptops are the most stolen item in their city. It is not surprising why laptop theft is common.

Thieves’ 3 most favorite items are money, jewelry and laptop, according to a BBC report.

The HDD holds important data but is fragile and subject to frequent error and logical or physical damages due to various causes such as system crashes, freezes, virus infection, power loss, shocks, heat, software bugs and so on.

Normal HDD errors, failure, deterioration, wear and tear do not immediately stop the computer from running.

Therefore, most users are not aware of such problems being developed and escalated until the HDD finally halts and the data becomes irrecoverable.

The disk alarm alerts the user of both physical and logical disk problems. It also detects signs of HDD deterioration and recommends a HDD replacement, thereby, a laptop failure is prevented. As a result, a costly laptop repair expense is saved.

The battery alarm provides an alert to the user when a possible sudden power loss is imminent, so that the user can save the data properly and shutdown the computer gracefully and/or switch to AC power.

The battery alarm does not only help protect data but also the hardware because a sudden power loss could damage the laptop hardware and corrupt data.

LAlarm helps protect laptop and precious data. It protects the laptop against theft. It prevents data loss associated with disk errors or damages. It also protects data and prevents the hardware damage associated with sudden power loss.

LAlarm is free to laptop theft victims. If anyone whose laptop has been stolen in the past 3 years, contact LAlarm Systems to get a free copy of the software. For regular users, it is US$19.95.

The price will be 30% discounted with a special offer code ‘xt90061′ until July 15, 2009. 30-day trial software is also free.

References:
“Setting a trap for laptop thieves”, CNET, August 22, 2002.
“Burglars see theft as ‘risk free’” BBC, 7 November, 2004.
“Traveling with a laptop? Be smart and do it safely”, Business Journal, Dec 5, 2003.
The Computer Security Institute/FBI Computer Crime & Security Survey.
“Intel Study: Stolen Laptop Cost to Businesses $50000″, eWeek, April 23, 2009.
“Could your laptop be worth millions?”, Jan 27, 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop_theft