I just got robbed, they stole my baby! I do video editing on that beautiful silver thing. Personal photos, the works (stole my external backup drive too.) I'm posting because I think it may have been one of my apartment neighbors. I have a wireless network setup (Linksys Wireless-G)off of cable internet modem. I had MAC security set up and only my laptop and my roomate's Dell desktop could access it. So, if the laptop gets turned on and is close, it will automatically connect to my network. Is there a way from the Dell that I can detect whether my laptop is around and active? Any help would be great.

If they turn the laptop on withing range of your wireless router then you should be able to detect its presence from any other computer connected to the network. You just need to go into the setup screen of the warless router and it should tell you who is connected. However, for that to be of any use you would have to permanently monitor it. You may be able to get some software that monitors the router and triggers an alarm when it detects the stolen laptops MAC address. Stuart

Thanks, I'm looking for software that would perform that function. No luck yet, but if you come across anything give a shout.