File Police Report.
If you live near a university, be sure and tell the campus police about your missing laptop as well, and don’t forget about alerting any private security in the area where you were working when the laptop disappeared.
Inform Repair and Local Pawn shops.
Contact your Insurance Agent.
Get the word out.
Get the word out to friends, colleagues and people in the community by letting your Twitter followers andFacebook friends know your laptop is missing. Post notices to community classifieds like Craigslist and other local directories. You may even want to put up fliers in your local grocery store or take out an ad in the local newspaper. If you can afford to do so, consider offering a reward for your laptop’s return. Offering a reward that’s similar to the laptop’s actual value may not save you a lot of money on replacing hardware, but it may help ensure that your data is returned safely.
Prevention and theft and Protection of Data.
Install Prey.
Encrypt sensitive Data.
Make your laptop easy to return.
Consider placing a prominently named text file on your desktop (e.g. REWARD_IF_FOUND.TXT) containing your contact information and any information about a reward, if you can afford to offer one. These details will make it easier for anyone who’s stumbled across your missing computer to return it to you without the need to go digging through personal data. It may even cause a remorseful thief to have a change of heart — especially if you can provide a way for the laptop to be returned anonymously.
Back up your data frequently.
Consider an engraving.
If you’re serious about hanging onto your laptop, consider having your company or name and a piece of contact information such as your email address or phone number engraved into a prominent location on your laptop. This greatly decreases its resale value and makes it obvious who the laptop belongs to. Engraving is a reasonably good deterrent against theft and provides just one more way of letting the finder of your laptop know who to return it to. Of course the downside to this is that it makes the laptop harder for you to sell as well, unless you replace the engraved portion of the case.
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