How do you physically secure / lockdown your desktop from theft?

M

MoreDents

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
294
What's the best method?
Buy one of those adhesives? I personally can't trust them. The thief can just grab the computer and use its weight to swing free from the adhesive.

I go pretty DIY. A thick bike chain through the expansion slots, secured with a master lock, anchored to my computer desk. It's a Lian Li case btw.

lock.jpg
 
get a Rocketfish case and load it down with dead IDE drives, no one will be stealing that.
 
anybody that has seen that though could pretty easily just bring a little tool with and snap the expansion slots off though... its not exactly strong metal... just a thought



also... do you have it locked shut too? personally I'd go for the easier insides before I went for an entire computer lol. . . graphics card, hard drives, ect.
 
holinger said:
anybody that has seen that though could pretty easily just bring a little tool with and snap the expansion slots off though... its not exactly strong metal... just a thought

also... do you have it locked shut too? personally I'd go for the easier insides before I went for an entire computer lol. . . graphics card, hard drives, ect.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%, but I don't have a solution to offer. Everytime I go to a LAN i get pretty nervous (not that my stuff is hot, but it's MY stuff)
 
Actually, I live in a house and my desktop is near a first floor window. I'm concerned about a break in.

The thief will see the desktop and just pick it up and leave. He won't have time or the knowledge to open it up.

And the Lian Li metal is pretty thick. Plus I still have the expansion panels to put back in between the bike chain.
 
I would drill some holes in the back of the case personally, and not use flimsy expansion slots.

I'm not worried about stealing my HAF, too fuckin' heavy
 
Yeah, holes sound better. I really want to close the expansion slots for free of bugs crawling in. There are a lotta bugs here...

What's a HAF? :p
 
My case has a 12 wires (3 screw-in) connected to it, an E-MU on top and it must weigh 50-something pounds... come get it.
 
MoreDents said:
Yeah, holes sound better. I really want to close the expansion slots for free of bugs crawling in. There are a lotta bugs here...

What's a HAF? :p
Click to expand...

cooler master HAF 932 most likely. its a common computer case. :)
 
Theives are more likely to go for the sweet monitor than your case. I have had this happen.
 
Down8 said:
Theives are more likely to go for the sweet monitor than your case. I have had this happen.
Click to expand...

Thats usually what a nice neighbor hood and a security system is for. Otherwise... a dog in a fenced yard that hates people he doesn't know :D .


Oh, and if your state has a Castle Doctrine law (Ohio does :D), a shotgun does pretty good if you're home.
 
Last edited:
MoreDents said:
What's the best method?
Buy one of those adhesives? I personally can't trust them. The thief can just grab the computer and use its weight to swing free from the adhesive.

I go pretty DIY. A thick bike chain through the expansion slots, secured with a master lock, anchored to my computer desk. It's a Lian Li case btw.
Click to expand...

Not a bad method, the main purpose of such measures is to make it harder to take the equipment away after all.

As for my systems, I'm not too worried. The most expensive systems (newest) are all either wedged inbetween shelves with such a mass of cables attached to them that it takes me already over 5 minutes to get one out, and I have done it a few dozen times already. A simple steel wire attaching them to the shelves would make it even more secure, of course. Some other systems I have are in full tower cases from the 90s and must weigh close to 40 kg. The same is true for my monitors: all 17"-20" CRTs, which are heavy and not interesting to a thief :D

If anything I should lock down some of the network equipment. 3Com switches are very desirable. I guess I should put everything into a rack-mounted cabinet I can lock eventually :)
 
my cube case is 60lbs and looks like a mini fridge, so most people probably won't steal it, unless they need a mini fridge.
 
kencheeto said:
load it down with dead IDE drives, no one will be stealing that.
Click to expand...
There's air inside them... chunks of iron would be better.

Then again if you just made case from 5mm steel it would be also surely resistant against vibrations of fans and HDDs...
 
If I were a thief I would do things differently I would turn computers on and try to steal passwords to banking accounts or personal information so I could that person's identity. :eek:
 
E.T said:
There's air inside them... chunks of iron would be better.

Then again if you just made case from 5mm steel it would be also surely resistant against vibrations of fans and HDDs...
Click to expand...

Yeah, the case of my main system is made out of 2 mm thick steel or so. It's very hard to lift even when empty, and nearly impossible* to lift it to its shelf position ~80 cm off the floor. Not being very portable is definitely a nice deterrent against theft :p


* Yes, I'm a girl, but I do work out and I have beaten up guys in the past ;)
 
Elledan said:
* Yes, I'm a girl, but I do work out and I have beaten up guys in the past ;)
Click to expand...
When there are people complaining about resistive touchscreens of smart phones needing too much pressure it should be obviously questionable how they can lift food into their mouth... :rolleyes:
 
also you could get an old beige box something that looks antique and load it up they might figure its not worth the effort
 
Pepster64 said:
If I were a thief I would do things differently I would turn computers on and try to steal passwords to banking accounts or personal information so I could that person's identity. :eek:
Click to expand...

well... you'd fail on my computers.... and get caught most likely if you ever did get someones... I was pretty sure its easy to track things like that.. maybe i'm wrong though



and about people stealing monitors monitors are real easy to secure. . . unless they were to take it off of the stand i guess
 
Instead of putting time and energy into strapping my computer to something with some kind of cable I just bought a security system with window alarms too lol.

That was a year ago though, now I live in a fourth floor apartment with only one way in, so I'm not particularly worried. If someone wants to break open my door then they will probably get much more than just my computer.
 
holinger said:
and about people stealing monitors monitors are real easy to secure. . . unless they were to take it off of the stand i guess
Click to expand...

Flat screen monitors have attachment points at the back of the screen itself for security cables, thus making it impossible to run off with the monitor by taking it off the stand :)

CRTs secure themselves :p
 
if you are really worried about it there are a few things you can do. get a case that has a padlock loop for the side panels to secure them. Use substantial locks for these, The next step is to attatch bolts to the floor by either tapping into the floor joists or the concrete slab. They do this for jewelry/watch safes. Then drill holes in the bottom of the case for the bolts to go through and secure it down with lock nuts.
It does cut down on portability as it takes a while to undo the nuts. however a theif will try to lift it once and then assume it's bolted down, worst case they bash in the side and maybe damage some hardware. A good theif will show up with some good bolt cutters anyways to cut through anything chained down.

Just make sure you have insurance and documentation as well as a backup of your hard drive. It's just not worth the hassle unless your constantly buying new hardware and it's always worth 4+ thousand.
 
lol, i would drill 4 big ass holes in the bottom of it.

and bolt the shit to your desk.

but seriously, home-computer theft is down.

most people break in, steal laptops and identies

my computer is laying on the floor. of course, its not worth anything more than 200 bucks now lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top