If you own a laptop computer, you know the problem.

Leave it unattended for just a few seconds at an airport, restaurant, even your office, and it might just disappear -- into the hands of a thief looking to make a quick buck.

In most cases, the chances of getting your laptop back are slim to none.

At least that's the way it used to be.

Now, savvy laptop owners are using services that enable their stolen laptops to secretly 'phone home' as soon as they are connected to the internet.

When the stolen laptop does phone home, it can carry out instructions pre-programmed by the laptop owner -- like locking or deleting important files on the laptop.

These 'phone home' services can even provide the geographic location of the laptop to law enforcement agencies.

The service I've been testing is MyLaptop GPS, a pretty neat little service -- one that might keep your sensitive files out of the wrong hands, and help the police track down your stolen laptop.

For more about MyLaptopGPS, visit http://www.bmyers.com/mylaptopgps.html