Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Prey Project OSX - Anti-theft application. Who uses it?

Spanish?

I just downloaded this, figuring with a macbook on a dorm it would be helpful (I'm a bit paranoid about it being snatched.) But the log in screen on site keeps giving me...something not english. Is there somewhere to adjust it or a help page? Can't find a link.
 
Test Run

Okay all who fear for their beloved mac's safety. I tried it today. Marked it missing, checked of geo, trace, screen shot, icam etc. And a bit later it popped up in the email ( which is set to password. No point in letting a villain download an email about being stalked.) And on the website control panel there it was: ip address, map (complete with a here I am arrow), pics-wow. :cool:
On the one hand it's creepy knowing someone can watch. But we've had some computer related thefts around here. And the idea my mac can now 'phone home' is a relief.

Of course on has to give all this info to the cops and hope they jump on it. Of course if the site had to do it for you it likely wouldn't be free. And you couldn't take it for a test run without the cops crashing down the door.
 
I do use it.

I have it installed on my laptops and today installed it on my Imac and mac pro.

Friends apartment was robbed. Imac, laptops, ipads, Ipods, Time capsules, airports all gone. and she did not have activated, BTMM, Icloud, Find my iphone. That sucks big time for her.

So I got wake up call and installed prey for the rest of the stuff.
 
AFPoster said:
Find My Mac now exists. I'd just get that instead of spending money to Prey.
Click to expand...

Man, it's free. Ok, the "Pro" (starting at 5$) plan gives makes Prey more flexible. But even with the free plan, you can your hardware serial number, webcam and screenshots, traceroute etc.

Plus you can check the source code by yourself if you like.
 
mfkr5 said:
Man, it's free. Ok, the "Pro" (starting at 5$) plan gives makes Prey more flexible. But even with the free plan, you can your hardware serial number, webcam and screenshots, traceroute etc.

Plus you can check the source code by yourself if you like.
Click to expand...

Yes that's great and I appreciate what it offers because I know how to use that type of stuff, but average joe doesn't want all of that. He / She likes simple, easy to use app's that just point to the area. Don't ask me why that's just life, glad to see we brought this post back.
 
Hey I downloaded this program about a year ago and forgot about it. My 15 Macbook Pro was stolen back in September. In early Dec I got an email from the program (one of those "hey remember this program" type emails). I logged on and marked my laptop as missing and within 24 hours I had a location, screen shot and webcam picture of the girls using it. Within a week I went with the cops and got it back..writing this posting from it right now :)

I trust this program now and highly recommend it.
 
hey,
i use it on my air and my pc and yes it seems it currently unavailable for ios.

Works great and it is not a scam, I would use it with the combination of find my mac from apple as it can give you that little bit more information if somebody steals your mac... if they manage to log in which they cant :rolleyes:
 
I'm the happiest Prey user there ever was.

I cant thank them enough.
I went through 4 months of hell with a Macbook Pro missing presumed dead, all my data on it from 10 years of work and life, all stolen at a party.
It was like a bereavement.
I grieved like a widow.
Didn't back up as much as I could have. Hated myself for losing it.

Then from out of the blue on a Sunday morning, I got an email.
Hell, no, I got 15 emails, with "Good News!" in the title! One every 2 minutes!

My laptop was emailing me, "help me!" it was saying!

All of the messages had a photo of the thief, and a Google map location pointing to the thief's house, and listings of all the data changes, and screenshots, and then it went to another guy's house the next day so I got another 15 or 20 emails, then I got all nervous because the locations started getting near a major airport, so I called the cops and showed them my emails - and they arrested four guys and kept them in the jailhouse - and then I got my laptop back!

The best moment was getting emails on my phone showing the laptop finally back at my house with me grinning down the lens.

All my data is intact. Luckily I got it back just before serious deleting was done, they'd just created a backdoor admin account and they were clearly looking to access and delete, I had less than 10GB of space left on the 250GB drive - I'd filled it with party music the night it got stolen.

If it's a choice between letting PreyProject point their lazers at my machines, and losing my machines altogether, then for me I'm down with the Prey method.
It's open source, it's totally free (though you'll want to pay the $10 a month to get extra tracking options if ever your device is stolen) and though it's not the only system out there it's one that seems to work very well with the Macbook Pro.

I trust them more than I trust the bigger players, that's for damn sure.

I'm tapping away on the keyboard I'd never thought I'd see again, I suggest if you love your laptop you get down on your knees and Prey.

----------
germanjulian said:
I would use it with the combination of find my mac from apple as it can give you that little bit more information if somebody steals your mac... if they manage to log in which they cant :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I think if there's a combination of stuff like Find My Mac and others then it can't hurt, right? It's not like one cancels the other.

But I don't agree with locking them out of the computer - give your computer a locked down and basic access account, no password needed, with parental age restriction and all that, just give them access to Safari and make sure all the permissions to dick with Sys Prefs is admin locked.

That way the dumbass criminal just has to click the log in to browse the web and he's toast.

Make it easy for these stupid thieves to trap themselves - get them on webcam. Don't lock all your accounts, otherwise they'll be more inclined to bring in someone to wipe your drive and start from fresh from a remote machine. Make it easy for them to incriminate their own foolish asses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back