Sucks that you lost your laptop Will! I like the spin you’ve put on it though.

If your laptop doesn’t have a password, it shouldn’t be too hard for whoever found it to trace the data back to here.

When Googling Will Dick, you are the 4th hit, and this post comes up at the top of the list.

I’d like to think that the Taxi Drivers of Toronto are an honest bunch, so I have a good feeling that your laptop will be returned to you.

Good luck!

CTV released few days ago investigation on the same topic: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080220/BC_Taxi_Test_080220/20080220/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

yup this is bad one to here.but isn’t ur laptop protected.Check for this..

I really hope you find it ! I can imagine how youre feeling… You remembered me about doing a complete backup

Hi Will. Nice seeing you the other day.

There are tools and tricks available to help users find their lost laptops, but they are invariably preventative. An easy trick is just to put your phone # in the default username. Put “REWARD: $$$$$ if found” as the password hint. That takes care if you simply lose it.

If you’re worried about theft, there are several tools that give away the location of the device if its turned on and connected. These tools work by relaying the IP address of your computer to a central site. You’d need the ISPs IP->Address information if you wanted to move on that, but at least you’d know whether the perp was a Rogers or Bell subscriber.

Most of these tools, however, have serious privacy issues and cost $$. Adeona (http://adeona.cs.washington.edu/index.html), meanwhile, is both free and privacy-friendly. It should be noted that the tool is easy to uninstall, and it won’t survive a format.

It does have neat feature directly related to Macs that you in particular might find interesting - the ability to do a remote camera capture. If you’re lucky, you can piece together where the guy was and do some detective work. At the very least, you’ll know what the bastard looks like.

There are professional services such as:

https://www.securesentinel.com.au/

They offer an ID number register for valuable property items, and a service to make it easy for honest people to return the property. The ID tags numbers also have some deterrent effect on dishonest people and you have something to write into police reports to help identify anything that gets handed in at a police station. Needless to say, their service costs money, but if you are in the habit of losing things, probably you make your money back pretty quickly.