I currently have two laptops at work. One of them was provided by the client. It came with its own security cable and lock. This lock works fine. I dial up the combination and unlock it whenever I need to be on the go. The other laptop I have is the company one. At first I received no security cable or lock with it. So I kept it safe at home. Then I got a lock handed down through the chain to me. I proceeded to bring my laptop in to work. There was only one problem. The lock did not seem to work.This lock was a Kensington lock. The documentation said it was supposed to work with Kensington security devices. The instructions said to insert the lock into the laptop, turn it 90 degrees, then change the combination. I did this. However I was able to rotate the lock 90 degrees back even when the combination had been changed. Not much security there.
I emailed the big boss and said this lock was not cutting it. He replied that nobody else was reporting any trouble. So the problem must be with me. I went to my direct manager. He could not figure out how to use the lock. He said he asked the customer to supply him with an extra good lock. Another guy on the team overheard this. He said the locks the company gives out are hard to work with. He proceeded to jam the lock into my laptop hard. Now it was stuck in place. I thanked him for his help.
It came to the day when I needed to go on travel. I still had a lot of work to do. So I needed to take my company laptop with me. Wouldn’t you know it? I could not unlock the lock that was jammed into the back of it. I tried and tried. Finally I gave up and left without my laptop. There is definitely something wrong with this situation. I should not have to fight with this lock. How much could a new working lock cost?
Yeah I can probably get somebody to get the lock off my laptop. But if I cannot do it, it defeats the purpose. Sometimes my company is very generous. At now it seems sometimes it is stingy. Unfortunately the security of my company laptop is my responsibility. If somebody steals it, my head is on the chopping block. I guess it is time to go and buy a new lock myself. I have some other ideas on how to deal with this. However there are just too risky.
