Hi everyone-
We have partnered with Intel to make Norton Anti-Theft more secure. On select PCs, we can now make a PC unusable by disabling the PC at the chip level. While the technology is not in every PC today, we expect to see significant growth in the number of PCs available with this feature. This post will give you more details on the technology and how to use it.
What is Intel Anti-Theft?
Thieves that steal computers usually do so for one main purpose: To sell them to someone else and make money. Without Norton Anti-Theft, a thief can easily wipe the hard drive and sell your computer as if it were his own.
Now picture that you have Norton Anti-Theft and you have activated Intel Anti-Theft (Intel AT). The thief wipes the computer so that he can go and sell it. But the computer shuts down and will not start anymore until the Intel Anti-Theft user password is entered. The computer is now useless to the thief!
By using Norton Anti-Theft and enabling Intel Anti-Theft, you make it much more difficult for criminals to profit from stealing computers. If enough people join in and use this technology, we can help stop computer theft!
Do I get to use the Intel Anti-Theft feature?
You can check here to see if your laptop is supported: Intel AT Supported Laptops
Going forward, Ultrabooks are intended to have this feature enabled so you are more likely to be able to take advantage of this feature on an Ultrabook.
How do I start using Intel Anti-Theft?
If your PC is supported, you will see an icon next to the device name on the left-hand side of the page.
To start using the Intel Anti-Theft feature, click on the Intel AT icon next to the device name and you will be taken to an Overview page that gives you more detail about the service and how it works. You can enroll your computer in the service (free, part of the subscription to Norton Anti-Theft) and can configure your settings from this area as well.
How do I disable the PC through Intel Anti-Theft?
You have two options.
1) When you have enrolled in Intel Anti-Theft and go to Lock your PC, you will be given two choices. You can lock the PC just as before or you can Disable it through Intel Anti-Theft.
Locking the PC will allow you to still do things like track its location and take pictures with the Web cam. Disabling will make it completely unusable for whoever has it until they type in the password that you set for Intel AT.
2) The second way to Disable the PC is to configure the Disable Timer. This will Disable the PC if it does not connect to the Internet for the specified time period that you set. This is important because there are actions a thief can take to remove Norton Anti-Theft from a PC so you cannot track location or take pictures. With the Disable Timer enabled, however, they will not be able to use the PC making it less attractive to keep or try and sell.
Do I have to stay enrolled in Intel Anti-Theft? What if I want to sell my computer?
You can unenroll your PC from Intel Anti-Theft at any time by clicking on the Intel AT icon and unenrolling. This is something you should definitely do before selling or giving away your computer. If you don't, a future user will not be able to enroll in Intel AT and might even have their computer disabled if the Disable Timer is set!
I will continue to update this post as certain questions arise and as we make changes. We hope you find this feature useful if it is available to you and, as always, look forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Joe Keehnast
Senior Product Manager
Consumer Business Unit, Symantec Corporation