Prey locked me out of my computer!

[Crazyid]

My device still says unverified and a screen popped up that says "this
computer is locked" but will not accept the password? Now I can't get
into my computer and there is no support phone number to call? What
is this crap - a virus? Someone please help - I need to access my
computer.

[Drew Reece]

The default password is …
preyrocks
Try that and see if the device has the lock action active in the control panel.

Drew

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[Crazyid]

I tried that password multiple times and it did not work.

On Feb 6, 9:08 am, Drew Reece <dru...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The default password is …
> preyrocks
> Try that and see if the device has the lock action active in the control panel.
>
> Drew
>
> On 6 Feb 2012, at 17:02, Crazyid wrote:
>
>
>
> > My device still says unverified and a screen popped up that says "this
> > computer is locked" but will not accept the password?  Now I can't get
> > into my computer and there is no support phone number to call?  What
> > is this crap - a virus?  Someone please help - I need to access my
> > computer.
>
> > --
> > ------------
> > Want to help translating Prey to your language?

> > Write us: translati...@preyproject.com

> > ------------
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "Prey" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to prey-s...@googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > prey-securit...@googlegroups.com
> > For more options, visit this group at

> >http://groups.google.com/group/prey-security?hl=en_US?hl=en- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Drew Reece]

Is the action active in the control panel?
What OS is the computer running?

Turn off any actions in the control panel & reboot the machine.
Drew

> Write us: transl...@preyproject.com

[Crazyid]

The action that I cannot seem to turn off is "get screenshot". It
keeps rechecking itself when I try to save the changes. Everything
else is unchecked. The computer is a new iMac with Snow Leopard
10.6.8. I'm not sure how to reboot the machine since I can't get into
it. If turning the power on and off will work, I have tried that as
well. Thanks for you quick responses.

> >>>http://groups.google.com/group/prey-security?hl=en_US?hl=en-Hide quoted text -

[Tom Wood]

Are you sure you are using lower case "preyrocks"?

Did you change the Lock Password on the control panel?

Tom

Write us: transl...@preyproject.com

[Crazyid]

I used all lowercase letters on "preyrocks." Then I changed the
password on the control panel using my iPhone. My iMac is still
locked.

> > >http://groups.google.com/group/prey-security?hl=en_US?hl=en-Hide quoted

> text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
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[Drew Reece]

That OOP's was mine,

Sadly physical access to a computer means that people can do all manner of things. You basically need to try to secure it in as many ways you can and hope that any new owners don't know how to detect & defeat what is happening.

Prey should only be removable if you know the admin password - so use a strong account password. Set a screen saver lock for this account, and you own user account (if you are mobile).
Set up a honeypot account so that any thieves are able to use the machine in some form (a 'Mac guest' account may frustrate them so test it & maybe add a 'standard account' to lure them in).
Encrypt any data that is sensitive, make sure that your browser autofill & passwords are secured behind another password. The Mac's Keychain is fine, accept that it is unlocked when you login so use a different password. I don't think Prey will work with full disk encryption on Lion, but I haven't got around to testing, older 'home folder' file vault should be OK.

A Firmware or BIOS password can help prevent booting from USB, CD's or the recovery partition etc.
Prey's own uninstaller requires the control panel login.

Each layer add's to to overall security (but each can be defeated with time & knowledge), hopefully you have enough layers to prevent many thieves removing it. Prey should also work with other third party tools that do similar things, but I don't think they are more secure to physical access.

The success stories seem to suggest many thieves don't have much computer knowledge.
Drew

On 5 Mar 2012, at 22:24, caTTman wrote:

> Hi, I'm new to Prey.
>
> I just installed it on my Mac (OS X 10.7), and tested it. Everything was great.
>
> However, the posts in this thread show how to disarm/remove the software, right?
>
> Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it seems that this rather defeats the purpose of Prey if anyone can disarm/remove it.
>
> Is this true? Thanks.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, February 6, 2012 8:44:02 PM UTC-8, Drew wrote:
> OOPs, I didn't intend to pass this through moderation, anyway it's not the whole process, so it's not a problem.
> Drew
> On 7 Feb 2012, at 00:44, Jonathan wrote:
>
> > To turn off you're computer, hold down the power button for a few seconds. Then, press the power button again and immediately hold down command+S until you're presented with text that you can type with. Type in "cd /usr/share", then "rm -rf prey". This will delete prey. If you get an error, try "sudo rm -rf prey". No Quotes. Type "reboot" to do that. No Quotes.
> >
> > Hope this helps,
> >
> > ~Jonathan

>
>
>
>
>
> --
> ------------
> Want to help translating Prey to your language?

> Write us: transl...@preyproject.com

[Drew Reece]

I wish Google would learn how to include links to the current thread :)

Drew

On 5 Mar 2012, at 23:39, Yehuda Katz wrote:

> Looks like somehow I managed to post a link to the current thread...
> Either way, Drew's response is a good one, no need for anything else.
>
> - Y
>
> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 6:35 PM, Yehuda Katz <yehud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Not quite. Like any other software, you need to be an administrator (a.k.a. "root") in order to install software.
> If you have a password for your computer (and a guest account so that a thief could still use the computer), then the thief will not be able to remove Prey because they will not have the privileges of the administrator.
> This post has some more info: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/prey-security/guest/prey-security/ZHb1hBrdOsM/8NI9EW8WTKUJ
>
> - Y