Your PC, Laptop or the android phone you just purchased gets stolen. What do you do? Go to the Police, register a case, go through the entire fatigue and then come home frustrated! (1)
Well there is a solution to your problem - PREY.
Well there is a solution to your problem - PREY.
PREY is an open source anti-theft solution for Mac, PCs and Phones. Basically you install a tiny agent in your PC or phone, which silently waits for a remote signal to wake up and work its magic. This signal is sent either from the Internet or through an SMS message, and allows you to gather information regarding the device's location, hardware and network status, and optionally trigger specific actions on it. You can quickly find out where your computer is located, who's using it, and what he's doing on it thanks to Prey's powerful reports system. By marking your device as missing, Prey will gather all the evidence you request and send it either to your Control Panel account or directly to your mailbox, depending on the reporting method you choose. Besides gathering information, you can also trigger actions remotely such as sounding a loud alarm or showing a message which will appear onscreen – just in case you want the guy to know he's being chased at. You can also wipe your stored passwords for security, or even lock down your PC to prevent access. In other words, you're in control. PREY lets you keep track of your phone or laptop at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen. It's lightweight, open source software, and free for anyone to use. (Source: http://preyproject.com/)
Here is a list of all the features you get by pairing your device with PREY.
Procedure -
#1st step
Download Prey by going to their official site's download page for your device- http://preyproject.com/download (For Android users it is available in the Android Market)
#2nd step
Give your computer permissions to run the set-up of PREY.
If you are a first time user you will be stopped by a pop-up where you need to click "ok".
If you have already installed PREY in your system then you would be stopped by a pop-up like this. And by the way if you have already installed Prey in your system then WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS POST? Just kidding, read this post, at-least you will gain some tech knowledge.
#3rd step
After doing the above step your set-up will start. Click on "Next".
("Setup reporting method" is the option selected by default)
#4th step
Select your reporting method. By default it is "Prey + Control Panel" which is a recommended option as it is more easy to handle and more accessible.
As you are a new user click on "Next" which is again a default selected option.
A new window will appear in the set-up asking you "Your Name, E-mail address, Password (for access through the website), Device title and the Device type". Enter the details and click "Next" to finalize the set-up.
Your account has been created. Now you would be stopped by a pop-up asking you to verify your E-mail address.
All you need to do is log-on to your E-mail address, click on the message, and then click on the verification link that is sent to you by PREY.
#6th step
Log in to your Prey control pannel and change the configuration (if needed). Now your device is secured with PREY.
How does PREY help if you lost your device?
Here I have demonstrated the procedure by marking my device as "Missing" in your configuration menu. As a result of marking the device as "Missing", Prey comes in action and starts tracking the required information that you set-up in the configuration menu.
It takes 20 minutes to track the device. After 20 minutes, the "Reports" button gets highlighted and all you need to do is click on "Reports", and an entire report of the device is made available to you with a recent screenshot and also the IP address of the net connection the thief has been using. By IP address you know where he lives, if webcam is enabled and if your Laptop/Smartphone is supported with a camera by god's grace, you can see the face of the thief. (All the info that you enabled in the config. menu is made available to you in 20 minutes)
Now instead of crying and weeping or getting frustrated at your kids (1), when you loose your device, laugh (2) at the thief who stole your device as you are now working for the police, just kidding you still have lost your device and with PREY you know the entire biography of the thief who is about to go to jail.
this is pretty awsome man
Thank you for the information @wikigaming