AUSTRALIA TRACKING STOLEN LAPTOP COMPUTERS Hot property - theage.com.au
Stuart James left the window open just a fraction, but next morning his laptop was gone. His machine, like thousands reported stolen each year, has not been seen since.

Tracking programs promise to locate stolen computers by secretly sending a rescue message over the internet the next time they connect. The distress signal can be as simple as an email.

"I was thinking of ways to track it down," says James, a senior account manager at IT research company GfK Australia.

"I didn't know those programs existed," he says - at least not until well after his $3500 Dell had been pinched. "It was one of the hot nights of summer, I left the window open not even an inch and it was taken while I was asleep in the other room.

"I knew someone would be selling it in a pub corner for $800 or so. I would have paid $1000 to get it back." Aside from registering the serial numbers on Dell's warranty and service database, there was little else he could do.

Recovery of stolen computers is rare, but tracking products offer some hope, kicking in after they are stolen. Hidden on the computer, programs such as PCPhoneHome and counterpart MacPhoneHome send an unseen email to an address specified by the rightful owner. Others, such as zTrace, make regular contact with a dedicated server