from the dept. Your laptop is missing -- and with it, all your confidential data. Qualcomm Chairman Irwin Jacobs lived this nightmare last year when his notebook was stolen. In June came a scarier case: The elite Nuclear Emergency Search Team discovered that two laptop hard drives full of nuclear secrets had been misplaced. There is no foolproof way to protect your notebook data, but biometric security technologies can make it safer. Acer's $3499 TravelMate 739TLV uses a Veridicom sensor and comes with two biometric programs: VbxCTR software controls rebooting and log-in, while WhoIsIt lets users encrypt directories and store passwords. Unfortunately, the two programs don't share a single biometric database, so you have to enroll your prints twice. The $3999 Compaq Armada E500 uses an Identix scanner. When sensing a fingerprint, the unit emits a red light, so you can easily tell when the scan is done. Another plus is easier enrollment: The Identix software is integrated with the Windows 2000 user management database, so you can enroll through an option in the log-in dialog or by navigating the system administration dialogs. < | >
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