APC Lapdog

One of the biggest fears of notebook PC owners is that of theft. A thief can lift a notebook and be away down the road in a second, taking all your data with him. Security is a big issue for portable-computer owners and APC thinks its Lapdog could put minds at rest.

Lapdog consists of a CD-ROM, a small sensor and a pager. The matchbox-sized sensor screws onto a serial port on your notebook and is secured in place with special screws, twisted in by a thin Allen key. The screws are hard to remove without the specialist tool and plugs are provided to seal the access holes as well.

Once the sensor and software are installed, the notebook senses any movement while you are away from it and activates the alarm. Firstly it sets off an audible alarm to scare the prospective thief. This is not hard to negate, though, as it can be turned down with the external volume control found on nearly all notebooks!

The second part of the process is the activation of your pager key fob, which should work within 200m but had trouble detecting movement of our notebook within 20m, let alone 200m. This really isn't good enough, as this is a costly security system and you would expect it to be 100 per cent reliable.

We tested the device in our labs, so some of the many other remote devices in there may have interfered with the signal. But as this device is designed especially for the office user, it should really be able to work around other machines.

The alarm also automatically locks the notebook so when the thief goes to use it, he will be denied access to your programs and files. This part of the process is by far the most successful part of the security system and was activated without fail whenever we tried to move the notebook.

It cannot be simply bypassed. You need to enter your password to deactivate the lock. The lock and alarm are also activated if someone tries to remove the sensor from the back of your machine. Replacement sensors cost £59 and replacement pagers cost £35.

Considering the price, this system just doesn't do anything well enough to deserve any credit. It is often slow to react and offers little visible deterrent to a prospective thief. Security locks and chains are far cheaper and probably do far more to prevent an opportunist.

Contact
APC: 020 8892 1222 www.ci-s.com