Now I have to share... Back in September 03... Thanks to a span of nice weather, Kremer and I have left our patio door open instead of running the AC full blast. We lived on the ground floor. One Saturday night, we realized that one of our stereo speakers, which sits besides the patio door...is missing! So sometime, somebody came in, grabbed a speaker, and left. And out of the thousands of dollars worth of easy to grab electronic equipment in that room, they choose a 1980's vintage stereo speaker that Kremer paid $5 for. They choose a $5 speaker, when there was a laptop in plain view, as was my brand new wireless access point, our entire DVD collection... $5 speaker. Dumb criminals... On a related note: Back in 2001 I locked my keys in my new car. Ford gave me free roadside assistance for X years, so I called them and they sent out a guy.The guy looks at the car, gets out two wedges and a heavy gauge steel rod, taps the wedges into the window, drops the rod in, and hit's the power door locks. Didn't take him more than 60 seconds. Last night, my girlfriend locked her keys in her car. She has AAA, called them, they send a guy. What we learned was that her power door locks are much more secure than mine. The guy ended up wedgeing open the passenger door enough that he could snag the keys out of the ignition with his wire, then pull the key chain out of the crack enough to hit the unlock button on the fob. 15-20 minutes. Door locks are all well and good, but if someone really wants to grab whatever it is on your front seat, they're not going to bother picking locks. Smash the window, grab, and go. Locks on your house or car are only a stop agnist the easyiest possible entry...turning the freaking knob. Security systems aren't a bad idea, but they have their own weaknesses unless you are going to baracade yourself in your bed room every night. And that's great, until you get the rare criminal that's really off his nut and has no issues coming into your bedroom... The best security system I know of man comes standard with 4 legs, fur, and a bark. :) > my folks no longer leave the keys in their vehicles and do > lock the house if they leave overnight. I know people who do leave the keys in their unlocked vehicle sitting on the driveway. If I could do it without setting off two golden labs, I would happily drive the hour to the location and repark the car a block or two down the street. (Nice rural country streets....) I've visten my cousins in farming country. Usually it's not the neighbors you have to worry about, it's what their teenage kids will do when they get drunk. What the hell else is there to do when you're surrounded by corn fields? Get drunk, hop in the bed of a pickup, and shoot anything that moves...or doesn't move...or that you find sitting in a backlot...or....whatever. You get the idea. > Locks are not solutions, nor are firewalls or any other security precautions. > They are simply that, precautions. More than precautions. They do stop the guy who doesn't have a prybar and isn't willing to break the window. ;) -- Andrew S. Zbikowski | http://andy.zibnet.us A password is like your underwear; Change it frequently, don't share it with others, and don't ask to borrow someone else's. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list