what do you do to prevent electronics from being stolen from home?

[TwiceOver]

Move away from the big city.

 

[Bignate603]

I love how people rationalize about being cheap and not getting security services when it's needed.

An alarm stops the junkie looking for something to steal for his next fix, or kids.

It won't stop a professional, but why would a professional bother to hack into your slomin's security for a few hundred dollars in items?

It's nice that your parents pay for a security system to keep thieves out of your house. However, if you think a security system is 100% effective against small time thieves you're kidding yourself. It will keep people from getting in and doing anything that takes a bunch of time (going room to room, searching, or taking anything large) but it won't prevent them from smashing a window, grabbing something highly valuable, and running. It would be easy to run off with a laptop or something similar that costs a bunch but is easily found and carried.

One of the best ways to avoid being robbed is to be a less attractive target than your neighbors. For example, don't leave that shiny new laptop sitting on a table that's visible through a window. Trim away bushes and things so people can more easily see where an intruder might try and break in, etc. If its happening at night put motion sensing lights around the house. You don't have to turn your place into Fort Knox, just make it look harder, less rewarding, and/or riskier than everyone else in the area.

 

[Red Storm]

Put one of these on your property:

Edit: 4000 posts!

 

[KaOTiK]

dog

 

[imagoon]

I have these devices called "deadbolts", which if properly installed prevent 99% of burglaries.

I also have a "security system", which makes it much less likely that a burglar is going to stick around after breaking in (would YOU want to be seen loading stuff in a truck in the middle of the day with an alarm going off?), and a "shotgun" for when I'm home.

Soon I will get a pair of ferocious kittens for an added layer of protection.

You don't do this trick?

Sliding door latches are 100% worthless. They are only meant to keep out toddlers.

These work great until you move to a house where the idiot builder put the sliding door on the outside.... solution: Installed french doors instead.

 

[SZLiao214]

I put small blocks of c4 into each of my big electronics with a proximity sensor that triggers it when they are more then 50 feet from my house.

I pity the person who goes for my desktop. Those hdd caddies in my ft02 aren't holding hdds.

 

[Linflas]

Live in a neighborhood where this is a rarity.

 

[JulesMaximus]

This is a rarity in my neighborhood.

Plus my wife works out of the house so there is usually someone home all the time.

 

[IronWing]

Stationary electronics are so 90s. All the electronics you ever need should slide into a purple neoprene sleeve so you can take them with you everywhere.

 

[blankslate]

WTF??!?!??! who wants to have sex with a meth head.... let alone one without a vagina.

Remember Pulp Fiction? "Whelp, Bring out the Gimp."

better yet a link to the scene...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kPqAV_74M

 

[Matthiasa]

The area that i live in isn't ghetto at all and all my windows and doors were locked shut but they managed to break the lock on my sliding door and bust in. the handle to my sliding door was completely broken.

No... if you have been robbed twice in two months it is definitely ghetto.
No place where I have primarily lived has been robbed ever.

 

[Linflas]

Stationary electronics are so 90s. All the electronics you ever need should slide into a purple neoprene sleeve so you can take them with you everywhere.

Has the Fold Box finally been invented and I am just not aware of it yet? Otherwise I don't see any way to carry around a 58" plasma TV everywhere I go.

 

[Squisher]

Wall mounting a TV won't stop a thief, they usually just hang on the wall bracket.

A lot of good advice already mentioned except telling you to move.

 

[Bignate603]

Has the Fold Box finally been invented and I am just not aware of it yet? Otherwise I don't see any way to carry around a 58" plasma TV everywhere I go.

You don't have a bag of holding yet? Get with the times!

 

[Capt Caveman]

These work great until you move to a house where the idiot builder put the sliding door on the outside.... solution: Installed french doors instead.

A deadbolt could still be installed from the inside to lock the slider door.

I've been living in the city for 10 years and never had an issue. Half the time, my backdoor is unlocked. Oh forgot to mention, having big dogs is a damn good deterrent.

 

[PingSpike]

My place isn't to at risk for this, but there have been some breakins in my area lately. Its almost always just some methhead looking for electronics or jewelry to sell for drugs. The truth is there isn't actually much that is worth stealing my house. I've got one TV that's worth like $300 and a couple desktop computers that probably aren't really that valuable.

The simplest thing you can do is to not leave them out in the open where they can easily be seen. Its like if you leave a purse or a laptop in a car, even if you have a car alarm they know there's something good in there from looking through the window so they'll just do a smash and grab. But if you threw a blanket it over the same purse the cost benefit changes...maybe there's a purse, or maybe there's an old McDonald's bag full of trash.

Think about what a thief would do though. If you hide your stuff but then put a new flat screen TV box out with your recycling some one is going to notice you just got some new shit.

And...don't fumigate your house because I heard they love that, LOL.

 

[Ketchup]

ketchup, no mustard

Did I hear someone call?

Seriously, an alarm is the way to go. It will scare off most of them.

 

[snuggliestbear]

Move out of the ghetto

+1

Besides locking your doors and windows, this is the best advice.

You could also try closing curtains and blinds so the thieves can't see what is in your house...

 

[Phoenix86]

I love how people rationalize about being cheap and not getting security services when it's needed.

An alarm stops the junkie looking for something to steal for his next fix, or kids.

It won't stop a professional, but why would a professional bother to hack into your slomin's security for a few hundred dollars in items?

If that's all you want to do just buy the stickers/lawn sign.

 

[Pantlegz]

I've welded as much as I can to whatever they had been sitting on, TV, tower, monitors, speakers etc. Any semi-portable device is either securely tethered to something immovable or glued to the nearest heavy object. So far, so good!

 

[Bignate603]

I've welded as much as I can to whatever they had been sitting on, TV, tower, monitors, speakers etc. Any semi-portable device is either securely tethered to something immovable or glued to the nearest heavy object. So far, so good!

Wasn't there a thread a while ago where somebody was trying to add weights to a laptop to prevent people from stealing it?

Edit: Found it, no surprise that it is a fleabag thread

 

[Modelworks]

115db alarm siren works for me, one in each room. It is so loud that they would have to cover their ears with their hands and they can't carry anything.

 

[Raduque]

Dogs.

 

[IronWing]

Plant cholla or prickly pear cactus under the windows. They are very fast growing provide an easily comprehended deterrent.

Agaves also work and are more freeze tolerant but grow more slowly.

Poison ivy vines on trellises provide pay-back but aren't a good deterrent as most meth heads aren't going to understand the issue until they already have your stuff.

 

[Rudee]

I don't think in the 10 years I've lived in my home have I or anybody else in the neighborhood ever had a breakin. A car prowling here and there, but no breakins ever.