Your Powerbook has just been stolen/dropped/left in a cab. Now what?
A friend of mine had her apartment broken into recently and one of the
things the bastards took was, of course, her bright, shiny, 8-month old
Powerbook. They walked (or maybe ran) out in broad daylight, with the
Powerbook, and a few other small (but valuable) things, in a pillowcase they ripped off the very pillow my friend had
slept on the night before. Traveling light, indeed.
The good news is that my friend backs up her data pretty religiously, and even keeps some of those backups off-site so
her important files are safe. The bad news is that my friend had no insurance to cover the costs of the new Powerbook
she’ll need to restore those backups to. That’s a very expensive lesson to learn.
I’ve since urged her to look into not only renter’s insurance (an absolute must in NYC if you ask me), but also technology-specific insurance. Much to my surprise, the only company out there offering comprehensive technology-specific insurance to consumers is Safeware. Sure, you can add a rider to your existing renter’s or homeowner’s policy, but the coverage they offer might not be that comprehensive. Business typically have more options, of course.
Safeware is computer insurance, not an extended warranty ala AppleCare. Safeware compliments your warranty by “providing coverage for all kinds of unexpected, externally caused losses: theft, fire, power surges, lightning, spilled coffee in the keyboard, accidentally dropped notebooks and natural disasters like: earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.” And they don’t just cover laptops… you can protect your entire geek arsenal, everything from your Palm to your Power Mac G5.
Are there any other companies offering comprehensive computer insurance? If you know of any, please share in the comments.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dean said 4:15PM on 6-16-2005
Buy a PC Notebook.
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NCTRNL said 9:11AM on 6-28-2005
Yeah...because no one would even want a PC notebook. They would have gone right past it.
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greg said 4:15PM on 6-16-2005
There's a program called Lapcop that is like Lojack for Mac Notebooks. Not quite insurance, but it might help recover a stolen laptop.
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Laurie said 4:15PM on 6-16-2005
Now there's a good theft deterrent. Buy stuff no one would bother stealing :) I think that is why they didn't take the B&W tower that was also in the apartment.
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macally said 4:15PM on 6-16-2005
State Farm covered the theft of my Powerbook (and other things in my laptop bag that was taken) last year under my renters insurance. And, it wasn't even stolen out of my home but when I was out of town visiting my sister.
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John said 4:15PM on 6-16-2005
A product called Mac Phone Home will send stealth messages about its location each time the thief connects it to the internet.
http://www.epowermac.com.au/product.asp?P_ID=336
I once left my PB at an airport. I checked some flight information, closed it and walked away. I got in a cab and drove off. About 20 minutes later I realized what had happened, called the airline and they had someone look for it. Fortunately, this was in a cul-de-sac without much foot traffic and it was still there.
Now I am extremely careful about leaving my PB anywhere. I also turned on FileVault and set security to ask for a password each time the PB wakes up or quits the screen saver. With FileVault, even if someone can change the password (not hard) they cannot see my data because it is encrypted with the original password. Changing the login password doesn't change the password for accessing the encrypted volume.
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