It's probably true that if someone really wants to steal your laptop, chances are good that he will eventually be successful. But that doesn't mean that you have to make it easy for that person to read what's on the hard drive. One of the ways to thwart a would-be thief is to use locking software: Locking software locks up your operating system and hard drive so that no one can access it without the right password. Choose software that is highly rated by others, and use the Web to do a little investigation into its programmer and the company that offers it. After all, bug-ridden software can cause you to be locked out of your own computer!