SPCR

i was wondering if anybody knows if HTPC computers are more or less likely/ easier or harder to get stolen than regular tower computers (hopefully no one has personal experience w/ this )

Computers are not stolen because somebody wants to use that computer without paying for it. They're stolen to support a drug habit. That means that the likelyhood of a computer being stolen depends on the perceived ease of selling it.

A tower computer is what a "computer" looks like to the general public. This makes the sale easier.

A flat HTPC might get stolen because the thief mistakenly believes it's a HiFi component. A stolen HTPC is a tragedy for its former owner and also for its new owner, who can't sell it for anything like a "decent" price ("decent" in the stolen goods marketplace).

Just my humble opinion.

A large,heavy...somewhat ugly puter is less apt to get stolen. Laptops are easy to snatch. Home Theatre boxes are often expensive thingys right next to your flasy big screen....and are intended to be compact-so the theif is FIRST looking at your big screen-and then-right there's the HTPC...sell as a set...get $125 in crack.

Any bike with shocks is gonna get snatched if used as urban transport and left underprotected. A bike needing paint is safe with a $5 lock.

ronrem wrote:A bike needing paint is safe with a $5 lock.

Not always. I've had my (chained) bike with duct tape liberally applied to the front rim stolen. Disclaimer: it was down the street from a university residence; and it was the St. Patrick's day weekend.

i had my bike stolen from the high school parking lot 3 weeks into my frosh year

but for the comp im thinking more of a college dorm atmosphere
the case is lian li pc-c30b so its pretty simple but also looks amazingly like a stereo system

thanks again

Only two cases I can think of are Zalman's TNN offerings, and HFX's classic. Solid hunks of aluminium that weigh a ton.

Here's a link to the classic: http://www.mcubed-store.com/catalog/pro ... cts_id=121

They should add "unstealable" to the description.

bt i dont kno if the passive would work w/ my components
heres a topic w/ my system review in it
system review

A long long long time back I used to do some computer repair to help out at a friends video store (he primarily rented movies, bought and sold cell phones, fixed old computers that people brought in).

But, I swear to God, every night starting at 7pm the crack heads would start showing up with phones they stole from people trying to get $50 for them but would always settle for $15 (enough for them to get high). Sad to say, but for my friend flipping these cell phones was what kept him in the black.

sometimes, around closing time guys would come in and try to sell stolen monitors, TV's, cameras, computers, especially laptops. Pawn shops won't take computers or laptops anymore so this video store became kind of a last stop for those scum.

One time these guys brought in a whole Sony system - HUGH 24" monitor, PC, keyboard, etc.....had XP login screen with names like Pat & Chris & Todd and these guys definitely didn't have names like that or the passwords for any of them "oh I forgot" was the excuse. yea....right

I tried to convince my friend to take it on consignment and then call the cops but he was terrified they might and in all likely hood would come back for retribution. After they left I felt physically sick thinking about how they must have broken in to someone's home and basically cleaned them out of everything.

A few pieces of advice to those living in the US.

1) Do what ever you need to and move away from crime ridden areas and find a place that is free of scum. Bad news is, it's going to get worse, much worse.

2) Use the BIOS password and remove the bios reset jumper from the Motherboard (alot of them know how to reinstall a copy of win2000 over your current OS but cracking open the case and figuring out which jumper to short to reset the bios is beyond 99% of them) at the very least they won't be able to sell your CPU and you will deny them that

3) 99% of crime is in someway traceable to drugs. Such as Stealing stuff to get money to buy drugs, or get money to pay off the guy whose drugs you smoked and promised to pay, or pay the rent because you blew the money on drugs, or get money to buy a gun so you can rob a bank and get money to buy lots of drugs, or use the gun to shoot a guy who has lots of drugs and steal his drugs....etc.


They will definitely take anything they can get $50-$100 or more.

especially thing thing bout the bios reset.


but id have to disagree with your third point

3) 99% of crime is in someway traceable to drugs. Such as Stealing stuff to get money to buy drugs, or get money to pay off the guy whose drugs you smoked and promised to pay, or pay the rent because you blew the money on drugs, or get money to buy a gun so you can rob a bank and get money to buy lots of drugs, or use the gun to shoot a guy who has lots of drugs and steal his drugs....etc.

im sure that a large percent of theft is drug related, but 99% seems pretty extreme (but correct me if im wrong )

99% is not a scientific number, but it's how my brother-in-law who works in the DA office in his town of about 500K people describes it. He's been to trial hundreds of times, and according to him drugs are always involved in some facet, whether causing, affecting, or triggering a crime.

I'd be more worried about someone taking your ipod than PC these days.

When I was at UNI, someone went and took the 2nd ram stick from ~500 PCs. The IT department didnt notice for a couple of months (although it must of taken a while to take all the ram). As far as I know they never caught who it was.

Speaking of bike i had mine chained up in the middle of town and someone came along and stole my seat and post! What are they gonna do with that? Build a unicycle?

Tresstump wrote:Speaking of bike i had mine chained up in the middle of town and someone came along and stole my seat and post! What are they gonna do with that? Build a unicycle?

sorry to say it but that was most likely a practical joke.
thats why i always replace the seat quik release w/ nut and bolt

Speaking of getting computers stolen I have a tragic but quite fun thing happen to me.

A few years back I lived in what I guess is similar to a dorm (apartments sharing a common kitchen/req room) and I had set up an acient X-terminal out in the req room (19-20" B&W monitor, 8MB RAM for running the X-server) and one night it was stolen! I was a bit pissed since once they noticed it was worthless it would probably end up in a ditch somewhere... But the idea of someone seeing that huge monitor and slimmed computer probably thinking it was worth a fortune still puts a bit of a smile on my face. :)

that is pretty funny and very annoying im sure. did ya evr find out who it was ?