LoJack BIOS Integration on VAIO

[techadept]

Does anyone know is Sony have, or plan to implement the LoJack BIOS agent in their products?

LoJack is definitely an option I am looking at since my last VAIO was stolen and I am interested in being able to track, trace, locate, wipe data from a stolen machine. The BIOS component means that and HDD replaced/wiped with Windows re-installed gets the LoJack install back silently, then phones home to the LoJack call centre.

The s/w works without this component (installs over the internet) but this feature adds a level of security.

http://www.absolute.com/en/company/bios-compatibility.aspx

"The Computrace Agent into the firmware of computers and netbooks during the manufacturing process.  Customers who purchase these devices will benefit from an extra level of security, persistence and support."

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this (next step Sony themselves and the s/w makers)

[Thalamus. · Accepted solution]

Hi vf.fmut,

welcome to Questions & Answers..:smileyhappy:

I would appear, from this E-support guide, that LoJack software may has been pre-installed on US models in 2009 but I'm not sure if that's still the case now though or if the software is intregrated into the BIOS..

I have checked with my contact in Sony vaio and there does not appear to be any plans to integrate LoJack into the BIOS in Europe at the moment, however your comments have been passed on..:smileyhappy:

[techadept]

Thank you Thalamus, I appreciate you asking your contact @ Sony for me.

Laptop theft is rife, and a product with embedded security would positively influence my, and many others I am sure, purchasing decision. I hope that Sony do take note and embrace this type of software, perhaps offering it as a purchase option as Dell now do. And Dell DO have the LoJack embedded BIOS option in some of their products as well.

Incidentally the only reason I did not chose a Dell over a Sony on this occasion was not from some blind loyalty to Sony, it was because the XPS Dell Laptops all had poorly designed chassis that made accessing the HDD crazily difficult (I swap the HDDs in my laptops around from time-to-time to test my recovery images and sometimes to upgrade or test SSDs). Otherwise I would have gone for a Dell.

I like the idea of LoJack, I have paid for a 3 yr. subscription and downloaded and installed it to my brand-new F22. I hope I never have to use it. Right now it won't stop anybody stealing my laptop, BUT imagine if every laptop had it, and also had a little red LoJack sticker on the lid that meant - Hey!, this machine has BIOS-enabled software recovery, and no matter if you steal it, replace the HDD, and rebuild the machine, it will STILL phone-home and a team of people will STILL be reporting your location the local police. You're basically not going to bother touching that machine are you? Well that's the hope anyway.

However, we live in the real world, and as I chatted with the sales rep. in the Sony store where I fattened-out my credit card to the tune of one new Sony Vaio, he told me I was the 2nd customer in that day to be replacing a stolen machine ... imagine that. 2 new sales for Sony they wouldn't have otherwise had.

Go ahead, call me cynical.

techadept (formerly vf.fmut)