Looking for a cheap way to protect laptop's hard drive in case of theft? Mac Geekery has a few simple but clever solutions.

Instruct the computer to periodically check a website for a secret codeword or file. If the file is there (or isn't), the computer will launch a self-destruct mode. It may not get you your computer back, but at least your data should be protected.

While the site's example is build for a Mac, there is nothing that should prevent this from working on a Windows machine.

Just make sure that your friends don't put the code-file on your server as a prank.

Selfdestruction

Photo: Papp-Kuster Ádám

Tags: laptop theft, security

24 Feb 2006