vpFREE2 Forums

XVP, theft warning

#1

I had the misfortune of a vehicle break in last Friday.? It happened in Taylor, MI at a Racquet Time facility.? I came directly from work and had my briefcase and laptop with me.? I usually come home, unload the laptop and briefcase at home and go on my way.? Well, I went directly there and left the laptop and briefcase in the passenger compartment.

Now, I parked against the front of the building and you could actually see the corner of my car from the front desk.? The vehicle was locked.? I went in at 7:30 PM and came out at 10 PM to a broken passenger window.? Now, the work laptop is pretty worthless since it is password protected both in network and stand alone mode.? There is no floppy drive and I believe it is set up to be non bootable so unless someone can break the Delphi security layer, it is pretty worthless.? Also it is an old Dell D500 with a slightly burned screen and a power supply that works about half the time.? Ebay value ( if functioning) less than $100.? By the way, the facility has no security cameras.

My briefcase had all of my homeowner's association paperwork in it.?

Here's the good news.? A Taylor, MI Department of Public Works person saw a bunch of papers scattered on the I-94 roadside.? He actually picked them all up, put them in trash bags, contacted a family member and got them to us, along with the briefcase.? He will be getting a package from Astoria Bakery in Greektown from me.

Lessons learned:

1) Doing something ( like putting valuables in the trunk) 99 times out of 100 may not be enough.

2) Just because you are visiting a business doesn't mean it is as secure as you think it should be.

3) Backing up your laptop is a good idea.? Most of my work info in on network drives but a lot of my personal info was on my local hard drive.

4) The more things you try to do at once, the easier it is to make a mistake.? I came from work, ran a couple of errands for the association, visited my Dad and was thinking about about the Tunica trip the next day.? I wasn't paying enough attention to my immediate situation.

Casinos are by design , confusing places.? It's easy to be distracted, try to do too much at one time and not pay full attention to your surroundings.?

I learned an expensive lesson and I should know better.?

Well, I'm off to sort through crumpled papers and wait for the glass repair man to come.

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#2

lesson you should have learned: install a security system on your car
s/b less than $100...can't imagine living in las vegas without one as
we have one of the highest car theft rates in the country...

#3

in Taylor, MI at a Racquet Time facility.? I came directly >from work
and had my briefcase and laptop with me.? I usually come >home, unload
the laptop and briefcase at home and go on my way.? >Well, I went
directly there and left the laptop and briefcase in the >passenger
compartment.

In the crime community breakins of health club parked autos are a big
issue. It just happened to a friend of mine here in California.

You are genuinely hurting right now, but I think you blame yourself
too much for someone else's unlawful actions. You have the right to
park your car and not be vandalized.

One reason the post is relevant to vpFREE is because Vegas is full of
shopping. The holiday season is approaching. So, your reminder of
watchful eyes with bad intentions cautions us all to hide or cover
parcels in casino parking lots. And, yes, health clubs as well.

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, greeklandjohnny@... wrote:

I had the misfortune of a vehicle break in last Friday.? It >happened

#4

Your laptop is most likely at a fence or pawn shop right now, sold by a Junkie for $20 top. They can destroy the printed on the outside serial number, but often forget that the bios/motherboard dmi has a copy of that - and your unit can be legally id'd that way. From a DOS command prompt, run "systeminfo"

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----- Original Message -----

I had the misfortune of a vehicle break in last Friday.? It happened in Taylor, MI at a Racquet Time facility.? I came directly from work and had my briefcase and laptop with me.? I usually come home, unload the laptop and briefcase at home and go on my way.? Well, I went directly there and left the laptop and briefcase in the passenger compartment.

Now, I parked against the front of the building and you could actually see the corner of my car from the front desk.? The vehicle was locked.? I went in at 7:30 PM and came out at 10 PM to a broken passenger window.? Now, the work laptop is pretty worthless since it is password protected both in network and stand alone mode.? There is no floppy drive and I believe it is set up to be non bootable so unless someone can break the Delphi security layer, it is pretty worthless.? Also it is an old Dell D500 with a slightly burned screen and a power supply that works about half the time.? Ebay value ( if functioning) less than $100.? By the way, the facility has no security cameras.

My briefcase had all of my homeowner's association paperwork in it.?

Here's the good news.? A Taylor, MI Department of Public Works person saw a bunch of papers scattered on the I-94 roadside.? He actually picked them all up, put them in trash bags, contacted a family member and got them to us, along with the briefcase.? He will be getting a package from Astoria Bakery in Greektown from me.

Lessons learned:

1) Doing something ( like putting valuables in the trunk) 99 times out of 100 may not be enough.

2) Just because you are visiting a business doesn't mean it is as secure as you think it should be.

3) Backing up your laptop is a good idea.? Most of my work info in on network drives but a lot of my personal info was on my local hard drive.

4) The more things you try to do at once, the easier it is to make a mistake.? I came from work, ran a couple of errands for the association, visited my Dad and was thinking about about the Tunica trip the next day.? I wasn't paying enough attention to my immediate situation.

Casinos are by design , confusing places.? It's easy to be distracted, try to do too much at one time and not pay full attention to your surroundings.?

I learned an expensive lesson and I should know better.?

Well, I'm off to sort through crumpled papers and wait for the glass repair man to come.
________________________________________________________________________
Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com