There is a basic built-in anti-theft feature in Windows 10 to track stolen Windows 10 devices with ease. The Find my device feature, when turned on, can help you track your Windows 10 device.
The only condition is that you must be using a Microsoft account to sign-in to your Windows 10 device in order to enable and use the Find my device feature.
If you often carry your Windows 10 laptop or tablet with you, it’s a good idea to install an advanced anti-theft solution on your device for peace of mind.
Prey free version for Windows PCs
Prey is an advanced but free anti-theft software for Windows operating system. It can help you recover your lost or stolen Windows 10 device without much hassle.
When you lose your Prey software installed Windows 10 device, you just need to sign-in to Prey account (can sign up for free) and set the device status to missing to begin receiving detailed reports about your device. Note that you can view the current status of the device even without setting the status to missing.
Prey features
Prey will run in the background (on the missing device) and can send your Windows 10 device’s geolocation, can silently take pictures using front and back camera (if equipped one) and send them to you, take screenshots (on laptops) and send them, share details about surrounding Wi-Fi networks. Of course, it can share all these details only if and when the device is connected to a network.
In addition to these vital details, it can also make loud alarm even if your device’s sound is turned off. Prey can also lock down your missing device to prevent others from signing into your device.
It’s worth noting that the free version of Prey can track up to 3 devices only. If you need to track more, please upgrade to Home or Business version. To make sure that the device that you are tracking using Prey actually belongs to you only, you can check the hardware information of the device by signing-in to your Prey account.
You can also send a message which will be shown on the missing device.
When you install the Prey program on your Windows 10 device, it will show up neither in taskbar nor in Control Panel/Settings, which is a good thing. So, one cannot easily uninstall it. To uninstall it, you need to navigate to C:WindowsPrey and run the uninstaller.
The Pro version of Prey can delete all data from the missing device, if you want to.
Finally, for those who are concerned about privacy, Prey will collect sensitive data only when you request it, and it will be accessible to you only.
All-in-all, a brilliant piece of software that costs nothing. We recommend you install this free software if you carry your Windows 10 device(s) with you.
Apart from Windows, Prey is available for Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android operating systems as well.
Visit the following page to download the latest version of Prey. Prey requires .NET Framework version 2.0.50727 to be installed on your Windows 10 device. Will install the same if not found on your PC.