Unfortunately, none of us is exempt from a situation in which we lose our laptop, or it gets stolen, and we will almost always feel that there is no way to recover it since we hardly have any tools at our disposal. That is precisely why, on this occasion, we wanted to talk about Prey, a platform that has been designed so that we can get the fate of our lost or stolen device.

If you are wondering what Prey is, you should know that it is a utility that allows us, from the browser of any PC, to see the location of that lost or stolen laptop so that we can start searching for it as soon as possible. Of course, for all this to work beforehand, you must have taken the trouble to create an account. Otherwise, everything will be absolutely in vain.

Once you have installed Prey on your computer to protect, you will see that it takes just a few seconds to configure all your account information, which requires data such as an email and password so that no one else can access it. If you have lost or had your cell phone stolen, you have to look for the Missing box and check it, then click on Update, which will tell you where the computer is.

From the very moment we put this system into operation; Prey will activate itself every five minutes or so, sending a detailed report to your email about the situation of the computer you are looking for. This way, you will know which programs are running on it, if it is connected to a network and its location, or if screenshots of any relevant information have been taken.

The application is responsible for taking screenshots of all the movements that the thief may be doing with your device and will also allow you to corroborate the detail of each action performed with the equipment. To give you an idea, in its Administration section, you can request a report with all the files that have been modified or each GPS or WiFi location data.

If you intend to let the thief know that he is being spied on so that he gets rid of the device, you have to know that you will be able to run a kind of annoying beep, which will also alert other people in his vicinity about what is happening. The only way Prey stops providing this kind of protection is if the hard drive of the device in question is formatted, but that's something no other software can fight against either.

What if I don't want the thief to know I'm spying on him? Well, then you can rest assured because unless you decide to do so yourself, this application will never show its activity or any details to the thief. It stays completely hidden, running in the background, and to give you an idea of the work of its developers; you should know that it doesn't even generate the classic folders in Program Files.

Regarding the Prey interface, we can say that we liked it a lot because the Control Panel, in which you can access all the information it offers, is modern and has well-defined menus and functions. If we add that it is eye-catching to the relevant data the platform gives us, then we can conclude that its design has a pass with a note for us.

If it highlights the main positive aspects we have found in Prey, you have to consider in the first instance that the reports it produces are complete, with a lot of relevant information. At the same time, you should never lose sight of the fact that it is a tool that the thief will not know is working. And to this, we must add a Control Panel. Very well done, of course.

As for the negative issues of Prey or that perhaps have not finished convincing us, we have to point out first that the reports in some cases do not arrive in the email that we have provided, although we do not know the reasons behind it. Secondly, as we have said before, if the thief decides to format your machine's hard disk, there is little this application could do to prevent it or send you information.

In any case, we know that the chances of finding a stolen laptop are much greater if we act quickly as soon as we discover what has happened, and in that sense, Prey is an excellent alternative to take into account. It offers a lot of varied information, not only thinking about recovering the computer but also about giving it up for the loss and knowing what kind of data may have been stolen.

Finally, you also have to consider that there is a Prey Pro version, which costs just five dollars a month. This money offers the possibility of protecting several devices from a single account and allowing you to remotely erase all the essential information left on your stolen laptop. It is not expensive, and its free version is already exciting. That is the business model that is appreciated, Prey.