A PowerBook is more vulnerable than a desktop Mac, so it needs protection from thugs, clumsy strangers, and even you.
Sharon Zardetto Aker
Because It's Portable Instead of Deskbound, a PowerBook is exposed more often than other Macs to certain hazards, such as being forgotten under a plane seat, having someone grab it from a hotel room or airport, or having someone "borrow" it long enough to have a look at your private files.
If you value your PowerBook and its contents, it pays to be more security-conscious than your average Mac owner.
An Ounce of Prevention
Prevention is, of course, the best medicine. And although it pains my late-'60s flower-child heart to admit it, the best prescription when you travel with your PowerBook is a healthy dose of caution together with a dash of distrust and a pinch of paranoia. Keep your eye on your PowerBook. And keep your hands on it in a crowded public place.
If you can't keep your hands on your PowerBook every second, here's something you can keep on it instead: the SonicPro PowerBook Alarm ($70), from SonicPro International (call the distributor, Versa Lock, for the product; 800-248-5625 or 818-886-8962). This small motion detector attaches to a PowerBook (see figure 1) with very sticky double-sided tape. Once you've activated the alarm by entering a code into the numeric pad, moving the PowerBook sets off a 110-decibel screech that can be canceled only by punching in the correct code. If you have a habit of dozing off while waiting for a delayed plane, you can use a SonicPro alarm to serve as a combined wake-up/burglar alarm if someone tries to snatch your PowerBook from your side.
A Pound of Cure
If prevention isn't enough, insurance may be what you need. You can find inexpensive policies, but look carefully at the type of coverage each offers before you buy. Here are some tips that may help you choose the best policy:
Unless you get insurance that specifically covers your PowerBook when you're traveling with it, you'll probably be disappointed. General insurance such as homeowners' or renters' may not cover theft; most policies specifically exclude business equipment. Even if your PowerBook is included, coverage seldom extends to theft that occurs outside of your home. Look for insurance that covers you when you're in transit.
Damaged Goods
Coverage for traveling PowerBooks is not the only issue when you choose insurance. Although a policy may cover damage at home or abroad, it may be particular about what type of damage it covers. One that covers a computer only when it's in your "care and custody" is limited. It will pay for damage when your PowerBook crashes to the floor as you jump up to make your flight, but it won't pay for a damaged PowerBook if you check it as baggage or ship it. (If you're shipping your PowerBook and don't have insurance, consider insuring it with the shippers for the full value; otherwise, you'll get no more than the default value, probably around $100.) If a helpful bellhop who's carrying your PowerBook lets it slip off her shoulder to the floor, you're in a gray area that could go either way.
`Mysterious Disappearance'
On the issue of theft, some policies are less generous than others. For instance, some won't cover a lost PowerBook when there's no evidence of theft, a.k.a. "mysterious disappearance" in insurance jargon. If this wording appears in a policy, it means that you aren't covered in instances such as a PowerBook's being stolen from an unlocked car. If the PowerBook is stolen from the trunk, which later shows evidence of someone breaking in, coverage is available. (Beware of policies that won't cover theft from an "unattended vehicle" at all.)
Evidence of theft is, to a degree, open to interpretation: If you doze off while waiting for your plane and your PowerBook isn't at your side when you wake up, an insurance company can argue that there's no indication of theft. On the other hand, a few eyewitnesses to your running after the alleged perpetrator yelling, "Stop, thief!" is probably acceptable. Make a spectacle of yourself if the situation calls for it.
Narrowing Your Choices
Two computer-insurance companies that friends of mine have been happy with -- including the way their claims were handled -- are Data Security Insurance (800-822-0901 or 303-442-0900) and Safeware Insurance Agency (800-800-1492 or 614-262-0559). Each charges about $75 per year for $5,000's worth of coverage. In going through their basic policies and speaking with representatives, it's apparent to me that Safeware is more mobile-friendly: It doesn't adhere to the "care and custody" issue (a PowerBook that's damaged or that disappears when it's checked as baggage is covered), and the company is not hung up on "evidence of theft" (if your PowerBook disappears from your hotel room, complaining to the management and the police is usually sufficient proof of theft). Look carefully at any policy you're considering and ask lots of questions before you sign.
For Your Eyes Only
My life is an open book, so I don't particularly care if someone goes through the files on my PowerBook -- except, of course, for the sense of violation that ensues. But you may have more, well, serious pursuits than I, in which case data security may be important. If so, check out security-software packages. They vary in the levels of security they provide, ranging from keeping away casual onlookers to locking out professional data thieves.
To prevent casual snooping, a program that requires a password to bring it out of sleep is adequate. PBTools (estimated street, $60), from VST Power Systems (508-287-4600) -- a package I often recommend for its battery-tracking capabilities -- takes this approach. But it's easy to bypass: Start up without extensions or with a floppy disk, and you can get at anything on the hard disk.
For higher-level data security, you can use folder-level security software such as FolderBolt Pro (estimated street, $90), from Kent Marsh (800-325-3587 or 713-522-5625). It password-protects selected folders and the items in them, whether you try to open them from the desktop or from within an application or even if you copy them to another disk and try to open them on a different system.
For disk-level protection, you can try Kent Marsh's NightWatch (estimated street, $70) or DiskLock (estimated street, $90), from Symantec (800-441-7234 or 503-334-6054). These packages use driver-level protection schemes that lock out unauthorized access to the entire hard disk on startup and wake-up. "Driver-level" means that they alter the hard drive's driver, that invisible piece of software that controls communication between the Mac and the hard drive. (Keep in mind that you won't be able to replace or update the driver while either of these protection devices is in place -- you have to deinstall the device first.) These products work only with SCSI drives, not with the IDE drives used in the PowerBook 150; both companies expect IDE versions to be available soon.
T-Shirt Contest
In my July column, I ran a contest to see who could identify the significance of the DriveSavers phone number 800-440-1904, explaining I had won a small prize from the company for noticing something special about the number. (By the way, this was a onetime, single-prize event from DriveSavers. It won't do any good to call the company to try and win; I'm afraid the contest is over.) I offered a prize to the first person who sent me the correct answer and have been inundated with messages, about 80 percent of which had the correct information: 1904 is the default date that shows in the upper right corner of the screen for most Macs if all their power is cut off. There's no significance to the digits 440, although several people suggested that they referred to the once-common configuration of 4 MB of RAM and a 40-MB hard drive. Mark Westley cleverly suggested that 440 vibrations per second is the frequency of the note A, as in Apple.
Marc Bodine, of New York, had the swiftest of mail carriers -- he was the first one with the correct answer, a full day ahead of everyone else. He showed great intelligence and taste by opting for an alternative first prize: a copy of my most recent book, The Mac Almanac. The MacUser T-shirt goes to the second person across the finish line, Nicholas Riley, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who beat the deluge of answers by mere hours. Congratulations.
Sharon Aker and Rich Wolfson live in an overwired home with underinsured computers but plan to fix that balance soon.
Figure 1 - Even if you snooze, you won't lose your PowerBook if you arm it with SonicPro's alarm.
