Chapter 20
A More Secure Laptop
IN THIS CHAPTER
Preventing a theft ahead of time
Identifying your laptop
Watching for crooks
Attaching a security cable
Using effective passwords
Configuring Windows File History
Restoring a single file
Restoring more than a single file
Resetting your laptop
The convenience of portability leads to a common problem with laptop computers: theft. Portable things get stolen. It’s easier to purloin a battery-operated drill gun than it is a standing drill press. Someone may steal a miniature Eiffel Tower from a souvenir shop, but the real thing is too big to swipe. And the French would notice.
Thieves are out for your laptop. You need to protect the device itself, protect your data, and try to get the thing back should it ever be liberated by one of society’s lesser individuals.
The Hot Laptop
Sure, your laptop can get hot. Managing heat is one of the laptop hardware's primary duties. This section's title does not, however, deal with that kind of “hot.” No, the topic here is hot as in stolen, pilfered, purloined. Bad Guys out there want your laptop more than you do. The lighter and more portable, the better.
Well, the Bad Guys don't want to use your laptop. They want to steal it and sell it for drug money. Some Bad Guys want the data inside your laptop, stored on the mass storage system. They want to access your data, look for passwords, and get into your online banking and investments.
The Bad Guys get what they want, mostly because the typical laptop owner doesn't think like a thief. In addition to being handsome, laptop users are a rather trusting lot. That trust is, sadly, what makes laptops easy to steal in the first place.
First, the good news: Most laptops are forgotten and not stolen. As silly as it sounds, people leave their expensive laptops sitting around unattended more often than someone sneaks off with them. Don't let that trivial tidbit lull you into a false sense of security; many laptops are stolen right out from under the eyes of their owners.
Think of the laptop as a sack of cash sitting around. To a crook, that's exactly what it is. Treat the laptop as a bag full o' money, and chances are good that you'll never forget it or have it stolen.
The best way to protect your laptop is to label it. Specific instructions are offered later in this chapter. Keep in mind this statistic: Ninety-seven percent of unmarked computers are never recovered. Mark your laptop.
Other interesting and potentially troublesome statistics:
- The chance of your laptop being stolen is 1 in 10.
- Most laptop theft occurs in the office. That includes both coworkers and Well-Dressed Intruders, or thieves in business suits.
- Laptop theft on college campuses (from dorm rooms) is up 37 percent.
- A thief who steals a $1,000 laptop typically gets about $50 for it on the street.
- According to law enforcement, 90 percent of laptop thefts are easily avoidable by using common sense.
Before Your Laptop Is Stolen
Any law enforcement official will tell you that taking a few extra steps of caution can avoid a disastrous theft. Like any shopper, a thief enjoys convenience: If your laptop is more difficult to pinch than the next guy's, it's the next guy who loses.
Marking your laptop
You can help in the recovery of a stolen laptop if you mark your laptop. I recommend either engraving it or affixing to it a tamper-resistant asset tag. After all, the best proof that something is yours is your name on the item in question.
- You can use an engraving tool to literally carve your name and contact information on your laptop.
- I know some folks who are clever and merely write their names inside their laptops, either on the back of a removable door, inside the kick stand, in the battery compartment, or in other places a thief wouldn't check. Use a Sharpie or another indelible marker.
- Asset tags are available from most print shops. The tags peel and stick like any stickers do, but cannot be easily removed or damaged. For an investment of about $100, you can buy a few hundred custom tags, for not only your computers but also other valuable items (cameras, mobile devices, bicycles, and TVs, for example).
- The STOP program offers a bar code asset tag that leaves a special tattoo if it’s removed. The program also offers a recovery system that automatically returns stolen (or lost) property directly to your door. STOP stands for Security Tracking of Office Property, although home users and (especially) college students can take advantage of the service. Visit
www.stoptheft.comfor more information.
Registering the laptop and its software
Be sure to register your laptop; send in the registration card or register online. Do the same for any software you're using. If the laptop is then stolen, alert the manufacturer and software vendors. If someone using your stolen laptop ever tries to get the system fixed or upgraded, the company cares enough (you hope) to help you locate the purloined laptop.
Keep with you a copy of the laptop's serial number and other vital statistics — specifically, in a place other than in the laptop's carrying case. That way, you know which number to report to the police as well as to the manufacturer.
Paying attention to your environment
They say that a gambling casino is a purse snatcher's paradise. That's because most individuals with purses (okay, women) are too wrapped up in gambling to notice that their property is being pilfered. The purses can be on the floor, at their feet, or even in their laps. Thieves know the power of distraction.
When you're out and about with your laptop, you must always pay attention to where it is and who could have access to it. Watch your laptop!
For example, when you’re dining out, put the laptop in its case beneath the table. If you need to leave the table, either take the laptop with you or ask your friends to keep an eye on it for you.
Take your laptop with you when you leave to talk on your cell phone. And, yes, you are leaving the restaurant dining area to talk on your phone, thank you.
Be especially mindful of distractions! A commotion in front of you means that the thief about to take your laptop is behind you. A commotion behind you means that the thief is in front of you. Thieves work in pairs or groups this way, using the commotion to distract you while your stuff is being stolen.
Pay special attention at the airport screening station. Just one raised voice or “the woman in the red dress” can divert your attention long enough for your laptop to disappear. Also be aware of distractions on crowded escalators, where the movement of the crowd can knock you down and someone can easily grab your laptop bag and take off.
Attaching the old ball-and-chain
Chapter 6 takes you on a tour around your laptop's external places, pieces, and parts. One thing I point out over there is the place for the old ball-and-chain: a hole or slot into which you can connect a security cable. That hole has an official name: the Universal Security Slot, or USS.
The USS is designed to be part of the laptop's case. Any cable or security device that is threaded through the USS cannot be removed from the laptop; the cable itself must be cut (or unlocked) to free the laptop.
Obviously, the USS works best when the laptop is in a stationary place. Like using a bicycle lock, you have to park the laptop by something big and stable and then thread the cable through that big thing and the USS for the lock to work.
- The best place to find a security cable for your laptop is in a computer store or office supply store.
- Some cables come with alarms. You can find alarms that sound when the cable is cut, plus alarms that sound when the laptop is moved.
Protect Your Data with a Strong Password
Passwords protect only your laptop's data, not the laptop itself. Most thieves are looking to make a quick buck; generally, for drugs. They don't care about the contents of your laptop — they just want the cash it brings. But a data thief wants more.
Data thieves feast on information. They want your passwords. They want credit card numbers, which are valuable to sell. Furthermore, they can use your own computer to order stuff on the Internet or to make transfers from your online bank account to their own.
A strong password is long. It contains letters, numbers, and symbols. The letters must be in different cases. Yes, it’s a pain in the rear to type, though it’s possible to be clever. For example, consider a password as a collection of two or more regular words with a symbol separating the words.
Windows lacks a ready trick for revealing your account’s current password. To change the password, follow these steps:
- Click the Start button.
- Click your account picture at the top of the Start button menu.
Choose the Change Account Settings option.
The Settings app opens to the Accounts screen.
- On the left side of the window, choose Sign-In Options.
- Choose Password and click the Change button.
Confirm your current password, and then click the Sign In or Next button.
If your laptop is protected with a PIN, you’re prompted to type the PIN for security reasons.
Type the same password twice, once in each box.
You type the password twice to ensure that you know the password.
Type a password hint into the Password Hint box.
Hint: The password hint should not be the same as your password. Just a hint.
Click the Next button and then the Finish button.
The new password is applied and used the next time you sign in to Windows.
I recommend that you immediately sign out of Windows and sign in again, just to get used to the password thing.
- If you use a Microsoft (email) account to sign in to Windows, changing the password changes it for all your Microsoft services in addition to the laptop. These services include OneDrive, Microsoft 365, Skype, and so on.
- Computer security nabobs say that you should change your password every few months or so, and more often in high-security areas. In fact, if you use your laptop with a corporate account, you’ll probably be pestered to change your password on a regular schedule.
- If you forget your password, you're screwed. It's possible to recover Windows, but all your account information may be utterly lost and not retrievable. Keep this warning in mind when you’re choosing a password.
- When you have trouble remembering your password, write it down! Just don't keep the password list near your computer. I know folks who write their passwords on their kitchen calendars or in their recipe books. Random words and numbers there may not mean anything to a casual onlooker, but they’re helpful when you forget the password.
Back Up Your Data
If you ever lose your laptop, you lose not only the hardware but also all the stuff on your laptop. The best way to keep that stuff is to back it up; create a safety copy of all your data, files, videos, music, pictures, and so on. This safety copy is what backup is all about.
Multiple ways are available for you to keep a backup copy of your laptop’s files. For example, any file you save on cloud storage is automatically backed up, as described in Chapter 18. For other files, called local files, you can use Windows to create a backup copy — providing that your laptop has external storage or access to external storage on the local network.
- The Windows 10 backup program is called File History.
- Internet backup services are available to help you with the backup chores. These may work better than the Windows 10 File History feature in that you use the Internet and cloud storage — not an external hard drive — to store the backup files.
Preparing for backup
To make a backup operation work, you need two things: one hardware and the other software.
The hardware thing is backup storage. You can use a portable hard drive, one that merely connects to the laptop by using a USB cable — no power cord. Or you can use storage on a network.
The software thing is supplied by Windows. The File History utility keeps track of your data, ensuring that historical copies are available for rescue, just in case.
- Inexpensive, high-capacity, portable hard drives exist in abundance. If you find one, ensure that it runs from USB power; that the device doesn’t require batteries or an external power source.
- Network backup is fine, as long as your laptop is connected to a local network that offers such storage. For example, you may have a hard drive plugged directly into the network’s router (gateway). Obviously, this storage isn’t available while you’re on the road. That’s okay: The File History utility bothers you when it’s away from the mothership, but it instantly connects upon your return and starts backing up right away.
- See Chapter 12 for information on attaching and removing external storage.
Configuring File History
Unlike other, less useful Windows 10 features, the File History utility isn’t activated automatically. You must deliberately set up and configure the tool, and I recommend doing so as soon as possible because disaster strikes like an empty room with only a lamp and a cat.
To get running with File History, follow these steps:
Connect the portable, external hard drive to your laptop, if you haven’t already. Or, ensure that network storage is available.
The external hard drive is the easy option. To configure external network storage, you must ensure that the laptop has full access to the storage. This setup involves the proper permission to access the network storage and assigning the storage to a drive letter on your laptop. See the later sidebar “All that network backup stuff he wrote about in Step 1.”
- Open the Settings app.
- Choose Update & Security.
On the left side of the window, choose Backup.
If you see a setting that says Automatically Back Up My Files, you’re all set. Ensure that the toggle is set to the On position. You’re done. Otherwise, continue:
Click the Add a Drive button.
Windows prowls for suitable locations, such as an external hard drive or network drive. The results are displayed in a list.
If no drives appear, you failed Step 1. Either the external drive is unavailable or the network lacks shared resources. Try again.
Choose a drive.
Click to select one of the choices.
After you choose a location, Windows activates the File History feature. At that point, your interaction stops. Continue reading in the next section.
- You can confirm that File History is working: Follow Steps 1 through 4 in this section. Ensure that the toggle is set to the On position.
- File History duplicates copies of your files to the storage location chosen in Step 6. This process takes place automatically, anytime your laptop is on. In fact:
- Generally speaking, File History works on all your files and folders stored in the laptop’s User Profile area. Program files and Windows are not backed up. That’s why I recommend keeping copies of your program installation discs or downloaded installation files. See Chapter 8.
- If you leave your laptop off for a while or you disconnect from the File History storage device, you’re reminded by a notification to reconnect and keep File History up-to-date.
- If you find your laptop unable to do hourly backups, set the schedule for a daily backup. This way, you won’t be hounded on the road with incessant reminders to attach the backup drive.
Checking the backup schedule
The File History feature works automatically, but if you’re like me you probably don’t trust computers any farther than you can throw them. To confirm that File History is up and running, follow these steps:
Open the Settings app.
Press the Win+I keyboard shortcut.
- Choose Update & Security.
From the left side of the window, choose Backup.
The Back Up Using File History screen appears on the right side of the window.
Click the More Options link.
The Backup Options screen appears, similar to the one shown in Figure 20-1.
FIGURE 20-1: Checking File History settings.
Confirm the backup location.
You can check to ensure that the proper device is chosen. In Figure 20-1, the external drive Seagate Portable Drive is chosen. It has a capacity of 931GB, and the backup set is using only 5.30GB of storage. That’s good.
Confirm the backup schedule.
The standard setting is every hour, as shown in Figure 20-1.
If you need to back up right away, click the Back Up Now button. Windows culls through your files and copies the newer ones to backup storage. You can do this before you leave, for example, to ensure that the backup drive is up-to-date.
In Figure 20-1, you don’t see the list of folders that Windows File History backs up. Scroll down the window to peruse those folders. You can add folders to the list by clicking the Add a Folder button. Or you can remove folders by choosing a folder’s tile and then clicking the Remove button.
Restoring an older version
One of the great features of File History is that you can restore an older version of a file. Say you overwrite a file or you update it with a newer version, but you really need the older version. To recover an older version of a file, follow these steps:
Locate the file you want to recover.
Open the file’s folder.
If the file has been deleted, you can try to restore it from the Recycle Bin. If it’s not found there, you need to restore from a backup copy, as described in the next section.
- Right-click the File icon.
Choose the Restore Previous Versions option.
You see the file’s Properties dialog box, with the Previous Versions tab forward. Shown in a list are previous versions of the file — its history. These versions have been saved and can be recovered — similar to what’s shown in Figure 20-2.
If you see no previous versions listed, the file is too new and hasn’t yet been backed up. Also, files you moved from other locations may not show a history.
FIGURE 20-2: Previous versions of a file.
Click to select a previous version shown in the dialog box.
Usually, the one you want is atop the list.
Click the Restore button menu and choose Restore To.
The menu is the triangle next to the button, shown in Figure 20-2.
Use the Restore To dialog box to find a location for the restored file.
Choose another folder than the one shown in the Restore To dialog box. If you don’t, Windows can only overwrite the existing file. If that’s what you want — great; otherwise:
- Click the Select Folder to set the new folder and save the restored file.
If you merely desire that the restored version replace the existing version, click the Restore button in Step 6 and then choose the option to replace the existing file. The old file is restored.
Restoring more than a single file
Unlike more traditional file backup programs, the Windows 10 File History feature lacks a Restore mode. Its absence doesn’t imply that you can’t restore great swaths of missing files. You can! You just need to know where to look.
Follow these steps to restore more than a single file:
Tap the Windows key on the keyboard.
Up pops the start menu.
- Type File History to show a list of matching results.
From the search results, choose the item Restore Your Files with File History.
The File History window appears, looking similar to Figure 20-3. This window is where you can select individual files or complete folders to restore from the File History backup.
Choose a date.
Tap the Rewind icon (refer to Figure 20-3) to page through older backups. The backup date and time appear atop the window, as illustrated in Figure 20-3.
Choose a folder or file to restore.
If you don’t see the folder or file, open a folder on the screen. For example, double-click the Document’s folder to view its contents. You can page back and forth to find the exact file you want.
FIGURE 20-3: The File History window.
- Click the Restore button.
Choose how to restore the file, if prompted.
You have three options:
- Replace the File in the Destination: Choose this option if you want to overwrite any existing file or folder with the older copy.
- Skip This File: Choose this option to ignore the operation and keep your existing file or folder as is.
- Compare Info for Both Files: Choose this option to examine more details about the newer file that you’re replacing with a backup.
You’re prompted for each file you restore if another file with the same name already exists.
- Close the various File History windows when you’re done restoring files.
The File History restore procedure works only when you keep a backup drive attached to your laptop and you’ve enabled the File History feature, as described earlier in this chapter.
The Laptop Reset
The ultimate form of laptop security is to erase everything on your laptop, effectively returning it to the same (or similar) state when it first popped out of the box to greet you. I call this process the factory data reset, and it’s a pretty drastic security step.
About the only time you’ll want to perform a factory reset is when you sell or dispose of your laptop. The process erases all your files and restores the laptop to a bare minimum machine. Obviously, this isn’t a task to be taken lightly, nor is it considered routine.
When it’s time to reset your laptop, follow these steps:
Open the Settings app.
Press the Win+I keyboard shortcut.
- Choose Update & Security.
- On the left side of the window, choose Recovery.
On the right side of the window, below the Reset This PC heading, click the Get Started button.
An ominous window appears. Two options are available:
Keep My Files: Apps are removed and programs uninstalled, but choosing this option doesn’t erase your files. Windows settings are reset to the factory default.
Remove Everything: Apps, programs, and all your data are removed from the laptop when you choose this option. Windows 10 remains, but in its raw, as-yet-to-be-configured state.
Choose an option — and be careful.
You eventually see a Reset button and confirmation. Even so, do not choose any option casually!
My advice is to choose an option only when you must do so. I don’t know what happens after you click an option, because it appears to me that Windows plows ahead and does whatever deed you requested — with no confirmation!
- If you’re having laptop lamentations, read Chapter 21, on troubleshooting. That’s where to look for fixing laptop issues and solving problems.
A third reset option may appear if you’ve upgraded from an older version of Windows. This option, Restore Factory Settings, restores the previously installed version of Windows.