My Mac was stolen this morning and I feel like kicking myself.

here's an update this morning: car locks are being changed today.Apt locks got changed this weekend. I havent been back to my apt since friday afternoon and I'm staying with someone right now and I'm using her computer right now.

thanks all and this has been an upsetting weekend for me and I certainally will put your tips that you guys posted to good use and I'm safe even though I lost a good portion of my portfolio because I didn't make any back up. Always back up your work just in case your computer get zapped or stolen. I had to change the password of one of my accounts. Macs are very difficult to break into from the outside but since my Mac wasn't password protected; that left one of my accounts compromied.

I will be getting a new PC later this month and I had been planning to get one anyway. In the mean time, I'll keep you updated.
 
Hear Again said:
I have a personal security alarm in my apartment as well as lamp timers that are set to turn on the lights at different times of the evening. If I remember correctly, mine is digital. (I can't remember because I bought it several years ago).
Click to expand...

Professional theives can find out if lights run on timers by obessiving the apartment windows. Set timers to random rather than specific times so thieves have hard time to study the lights. Same to television and radio too.

Professional theives can robbing entire house in less than 10 minutes. I learned that from It Takes a Thief on Discovery Channel. I dont know if Discovery stop airing or rerun that show. It's quite educational.

About computers... there's some USB flashdrives that act like keys, lock the computers or hard drives automatically if not plugged. Better than using passwords or logins.
 
deafskeptic said:
here's an update this morning: car locks are being changed today.Apt locks got changed this weekend. I havent been back to my apt since friday afternoon and I'm staying with someone right now and I'm using her computer right now.

thanks all and this has been an upsetting weekend for me and I certainally will put your tips that you guys posted to good use and I'm safe even though I lost a good portion of my portfolio because I didn't make any back up. Always back up your work just in case your computer get zapped or stolen. I had to change the password of one of my accounts. Macs are very difficult to break into from the outside but since my Mac wasn't password protected; that left one of my accounts compromied.

I will be getting a new PC later this month and I had been planning to get one anyway. In the mean time, I'll keep you updated.
Click to expand...

Was your bank account or credit card account?

I recommend should *not* put the passward stored in the browser for the bank online and credit card accounts.

I recommend to call your bank and credit card provider to change new account numbers and pin passwards. just tell them to "Freeze accounts due to someone burglarized into home and need change new account".
 
Deathpit said:
Professional theives can find out if lights run on timers by obessiving the apartment windows. Set timers to random rather than specific times so thieves have hard time to study the lights. Same to television and radio too.

Professional theives can robbing entire house in less than 10 minutes. I learned that from It Takes a Thief on Discovery Channel. I dont know if Discovery stop airing or rerun that show. It's quite educational.

About computers... there's some USB flashdrives that act like keys, lock the computers or hard drives automatically if not plugged. Better than using passwords or logins.
Click to expand...

About the light timers, that's why I suggested electromechanical ones, because they turn on and off within 20 minutes of their programmed time, and that's a lot like humans. We don't turn our lights on and off at exactly the same time every day, but if we have a regular schedule, we come fairly close. I know I do.

Also, if the lamps are set in special places, they look to thieves like they are planted to try to fool them, and they won't be fooled. Just set your home so that it works as if you're home working it.

It's also a good idea to make it difficult to get into. You're competing with your neighbours. Thieves who wanna get in will get in, but they will pick the easiest targets they can find. They hope to get in and out as quickly as possible. If you make it hard for them, they will pick an easier target.

Come on, thieves! What are you waiting for? Try it! If you want a 15 year old microwave oven that takes 7 minutes to boil water, and maybe you want a dirty old toaster oven, come on in, cause that's all you're gonna get! That'll piss you off, and you'll get mad and trash all my dollar store/kmart goods that are set up to piss you off anyway, rofl!

Yeah, I watched that "it takes a thief" show a lot. Don't know what ever happened to it, but I learned a lot from that and other shows and movies and other sources.
 
I'm sorry to hear that happen to you, you must get new locks right now.
 
PowerWCRulez said:
Was your bank account or credit card account?

I recommend should *not* put the passward stored in the browser for the bank online and credit card accounts.

I recommend to call your bank and credit card provider to change new account numbers and pin passwards. just tell them to "Freeze accounts due to someone burglarized into home and need change new account".
Click to expand...

My bank account wasn't compromised and I don't use credit cards. My World of Warcraft account was compromised though because I left my password for it in one of my BBEdit text pages. I didn't want the thief to steal my characters and ebay them. My charactors are precoius to me. I don't even share them and I'd never ever give them away!

I will need to open a new bank account though because the thief has access to my mailbox.
 
deafskeptic said:
My bank account wasn't compromised and I don't use credit cards. My World of Warcraft account was compromised though because I left my password for it in one of my BBEdit text pages. I didn't want the thief to steal my characters and ebay them. My charactors are precoius to me. I don't even share them and I'd never ever give them away!

I will need to open a new bank account though because the thief has access to my mailbox.
Click to expand...

you'll need to immediately change password to all of your email accounts and everything. :mad2:
 
Deathpit said:
Professional theives can find out if lights run on timers by obessiving the apartment windows. Set timers to random rather than specific times so thieves have hard time to study the lights. Same to television and radio too.

Professional theives can robbing entire house in less than 10 minutes. I learned that from It Takes a Thief on Discovery Channel. I dont know if Discovery stop airing or rerun that show. It's quite educational.

About computers... there's some USB flashdrives that act like keys, lock the computers or hard drives automatically if not plugged. Better than using passwords or logins.
Click to expand...

My light timer is set to activate at different times of the evening.

I also have renter's insurance so that if any of my belongings are stolen, I have some protection.
 
deafskeptic said:
My bank account wasn't compromised and I don't use credit cards. My World of Warcraft account was compromised though because I left my password for it in one of my BBEdit text pages. I didn't want the thief to steal my characters and ebay them. My charactors are precoius to me. I don't even share them and I'd never ever give them away!

I will need to open a new bank account though because the thief has access to my mailbox.
Click to expand...

Off-topic...

deafskeptic,

What do you mean by the fact that you don't want the thief to steal your characters or sell them on eBay? Also, what do you mean by sharing them? I've done a little reading about World of Warcraft, but I don't completely understand how it works -- especially in regards to characters. Could you explain? Thanks! :)
 
:slap: Report this to the nearest police precinct. MOVE IT, NOW! (This MAY enable you a slight chance to recover your stuff IF it ever turns up!)
 
Oh my dear, I'm very sorry to learn about your things but good thing is the burglary did not do anything harm on you.

Like what everyone says... GET LOCK STRAIGHT WAY then be safety...

Do you have household insurance ?

I hope the burglary will get caught!!!!!


 
Hear Again said:
Off-topic...

deafskeptic,

What do you mean by the fact that you don't want the thief to steal your characters or sell them on eBay? Also, what do you mean by sharing them? I've done a little reading about World of Warcraft, but I don't completely understand how it works -- especially in regards to characters. Could you explain? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

It takes hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to build characters and to obtain gear/gold/etc. I'm a former WoW addict. Assuming the character has few sets of full gear and some rare items... it can sell for more than $700. It's not unheard of to sell it for a thousand bucks. My friend made profits doing it... sold several thousand dollars worth - he's a clever hacker. He did 4-boxing (meaning he programmed 4 computers to run 4 characters at same time).
 
Jiro said:
It takes hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to build characters and to obtain gear/gold/etc. I'm a former WoW addict. Assuming the character has few sets of full gear and some rare items... it can sell for more than $700. It's not unheard of to sell it for a thousand bucks. My friend made profits doing it... sold several thousand dollars worth - he's a clever hacker. He did 4-boxing (meaning he programmed 4 computers to run 4 characters at same time).
Click to expand...

Interesting!
 
Jiro said:
not really interesting when it consumes you and destroys your life.... :(
Click to expand...

True. From what I've read from WoW players, the game does tend to take up a great deal of their time. In fact, one player said it wasn't uncommon for certain characters to play for as many as 12 hours straight. :shock:
 
Any chance if your Mac is include Logmein? Then it would be easy to track thru ip-address and report to police to location the thief.
 
Sorry about that... Damn thieves! Maybe its time to increase your security due to the bad economy meaning more thieves possible.

Lojack is the great thing to track and retrieve the stolen items. I used to have it for 3 years but need to renew asap... also ought to have a personal insurance, too.
 
it would be nice to add GPS tracker in laptop. But dunno how that work. *shurg*
 
Hear Again said:
Off-topic...

deafskeptic,

What do you mean by the fact that you don't want the thief to steal your characters or sell them on eBay? Also, what do you mean by sharing them? I've done a little reading about World of Warcraft, but I don't completely understand how it works -- especially in regards to characters. Could you explain? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

It's a very popular online game. My fiance plays WOW all the time. You can make characters and play them, fight enemies, etc. I don't know about selling them on ebay or sharing them, though. I don't know too much about WOW cause I can't play that game...video games and computer games give me vertigo due to the 3D graphics, and I don't know why. Oh well.
 
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