Laptop Software Protection: Pics/Video?

Hi all,

I have an Acer Aspire 5100 with a 1.3mp built-in camera running Vista. I have to take it to work, but am unable to attach it to anything due to school guidelines. I work in a high school, so I hate the idea of leaving it unattended, but am trying to investigate options so that if it ever is stolen, I am not totally screwed.

Adeona - I've investigated this and it sounds like it's the best option both privacy wise and cost. Everything sounds good, but just having an IP address of the laptop if it gets online sounds like it might not be enough to find my laptop ever again if it disappears.

Back to my mac - I read about how a woman was able to use this after her laptop was stolen from her home to take a picture of the thief. Is this like Remote Desktop? I've never used RD before, but was wondering if there was a way to be ready in case my laptop is ever stolen and I need to use the camera to take a picture remotely. Is this even possible? I haven't been able to find any programs yet for this...

My last question is regarding passwords. If a student steals my laptop, the screensaver and sleep both require a password to unlock, as does my computer when it starts up. if this is the case, my stolen laptop wouldn't be able to get on to the internet to use either Adeona, RD, or any picture taking software. Should I disable my password to allow easy recovery if my laptop is ever stolen, just to help myself out in the future?

Thanks for any and all thoughts, you guys are always great!

bump this stuff to the top!

I read you post when you first put it up- but you tended to ramble and I really couldn't get what you wanted to do.

You swing from the Acer to the Mac to passwords. Can't you lock the laptop up somewhere? Or how about equipping it with Lojack?

Lojack for laptops: http://www.absolute.com/products/lojack