How to set up and use ESET Anti-Theft

Ian

You've just purchased ESET Internet Security or Smart Security and you saw it comes with Anti-Theft tools. Maybe you're concerned abut someone stealing your computer, or maybe you just worry about forgetting your laptop somewhere. ESET Anti Theft is a tool that allows you to monitor, lock and track a lost/stolen computer.

The first thing you'll need to do is create an account. Here's how you set it up:

1.   From the main ESET program window, select the Tools menu.

 

 

2.   Click on Anti-Theft from the Tools screen.

 

 

3.   Click on Create Account at the bottom right of the ESET Anti-Theft window.

 

4.   On the create new account screen, fill in the email address, password, and confirm password boxes. Then accept the license terms. Then click Create new account to continue.

 

5.   Create a name for the computer, this is the display name it will use on ESET’s website.

 

6.   An activation window will appear. Click Close to complete the sign up process.

Now that we've created an account and registered the device, let's use some of the available tools. One of the most useful anti theft tools ESET makes is the Phantom Account. Enabling the Phantom Account can help you catch someone who has stolen your device, and keep them out of your sensitive data by locking your real account.

How to enable the Phantom Account:

1.   From the main ESET program window, select the Tools menu.

 

 

2.   Click on Anti-Theft from the Tools screen. This will open the ESET anti-theft website automatically.

 

 

3.   Click Sign in on the ESET Anti-Theft website.

 

4.   Fill in the email address and password for the ESET Anti-Theft account and click Sign in.

 

5.   Once signed in, here it will list any computers registered with ESET Anti-Theft. Click on Optimize this device to begin phantom account setup.

 

6.   On the optimization tab, click on Create Phantom account.

 

7.   A Set up a “Phantom Windows Account” window will appear. ESET will automatically suggest a username, or type in a different username, then click on Create phantom account. Once finished, it will say your device is optimized for anti-theft.

 

8.   Once completed, on the Status menu, if the device is missing or lost, clicking on My device is missing will automatically lock the computer to its phantom account. This can be done any time from ESET’s anti-theft website.

Now that you've marked the device as missing, you can track and monitor it:

1.   Under Activity, you can view a summary of the information ESET has gathered.

2.   You can view the approximate location and see screenshots of the activities it's being used for. ESET will also attempt to use the webcam to take pictures of the person using it.

3. You can send a message to the device that will replace the desktop background. This can be used to warn a thief, or communicate with someone who found a lost device.

4.   Once you have your device back, you can mark it as recovered with ESET to re-enable the main account and stop monitoring.

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