WRAL Tech Wire

Lenovo unveils ‘Lost & Found` service for laptops

Lenovo offers 'Lost & Found' for laptops

On The Web

• Lenovo
• Absolute
• FCC

Site Search

Get the latest news alerts: Follow LTW at Twitter.

Local Tech Wire

MORRISVILLE, N.C. – Ever lose your laptop or had one stolen? Have you found a laptop in a taxi or airport and don’t know what to do with it?

Lenovo says it has answers.

Teaming with Canada-based Absolute Software, the world’s No. 4 PC maker is offering a new service, “Lost & Found,” to not only add more protection to laptops but also enable people to return machines to their rightful owners.

The Lost & Found software is part of Absolute’s Computrace package that enables laptops to be tracked. (On its blog, Absolute says its quickest recovery time of a stolen laptop is 65 minutes.)

Lenovo is offering the protection at no additional charge beginning this month.

Theft or loss of laptops can be a big expense for a company, resulting in an average cost of nearly $50,000 due to data breeches, lost data, legal, lost productivity and other costs, according to a study from the Ponemon Institute.

"Lenovo Lost & Found gives the Good Samaritans who find a lost ThinkPad laptop a free and simple way to return a ThinkPad laptop to its rightful owner," said Peter Schrady, vice president and general manager of Software, Peripherals and Enterprise Products for Lenovo. "In an incredibly fast-paced, mobile work environment accidents happen, and this service can provide added peace of mind for owners who misplace their laptops. At the same time, Lenovo makes it easy for people to do the right thing."

Here’s how Lost & Found forks, according to Absolute:

• If the PC is lost, the owner can flag it with Absolute to have the PC automatically lock if turned on. If it's turned on, the screen can display a message indicating the laptop is lost and will provide a toll-free number to return the laptop.

• Alternatively, anyone who finds a ThinkPad laptop can call the toll-free number for Lenovo found on a sticker on the outside of the laptop.

• Lenovo receives the call, confirms the registration of the laptop for Lost & Found and sends a pre-paid shipping box to the finder.

• The finder sends the ThinkPad laptop to Lenovo.

• Lenovo ships the laptop to the owner

• The owner unlocks the ThinkPad through Absolute once the PC is returned to him.

Lenovo bases its global headquarters in Morrisville.

Editor's Blog

The latest blog posts from our WRAL Tech Wire and WRAL editors. Read more articles…