Skip to main content

Lost your Windows 10 laptop Here's how to find it

One of the headline features of Android for some time now has been a utility that lets you easily find your lost phone. Whether it's truly lost or god forbid stolen, or simply stuck between the sofa cushions, finding it has never been so easy. By popular demand, Microsoft brought this utility to Windows phone with Windows 10 recently. The number of phones that run Windows 10 are however very few as of the moment, and the ones that are there are not available across the globe, but in select markets. Two of these recently launched phones, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL are expected to launch in India soon. But more on that later.
Windows 10 was designed primarily as a cross platform operating system so that it could work seamlessly across devices: phones, tablets, laptops and PCs. To that effect, Microsoft's first major Windows 10 upgrade (Windows 10 November update) brings in new features, that are both evident and 'out there' as well as also secretly tucked away inside. One of these tucked away features includes enabling the ability to find your lost device: laptops and /or tablets.   
Now, we've known find your phone for some time, but this new welcome addition extends the feature beyond the domain of phones to laptops. Laptops like phones are mobile and therefore carry every chance to get lost or stolen. And now you can find them. Note that your laptop must be running Windows 10 and carrying the latest (November) build to make use of this functionality.
Microsoft's 'Find My Device' utility locates your laptop by its last location. Last known location is the device's location when it was last connected to the Internet.
This means, when enabled your device will periodically send your current location data to Microsoft's servers. "Like Find My Phone, use Find My Device to find your device on a map. This free service on account.microsoft.com/devices periodically gets your device's location so you can see it on a map," according to Microsoft. Microsoft already states it in bold that it will collect your data and use it to help you detect your device should you lose it.
Find My Device is disabled by default. Here's how to enable it:
-- Make sure you've turned on the master location setting on your device and signed in on it using your Microsoft account.
--Sign in as administrator.
-- Navigate to Start, then select Settings > Update and Security > Find My Device > Enable.
Once enabled, your device will start sending your location data periodically to Microsoft and your device's location will be saved in the cloud. Thereon, finding your lost device is simple.
-- Log in to account.microsoft.com/devices. Make sure you log in with the same Microsoft account that you use to sign in on your lost device.
--You will then be prompted to choose the device. Select and click Find My Device.
--You'll see a map with your device's location. Note that this location will pertain to the last location where it was online. In case your laptop has been stolen and set offline, the feature won't be able to make an accurate detection.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Augmented Reality Wizards Blippar Will Unveil New Tech At TechCrunch Disrupt London

What if you could learn about anything just by taking a photo of it?  Blippar already has 3 million people doing that every month plus another 62 million signed up. Now Blippar is ready to unveil the next phase of its technology and business, and it’s going to do it onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt London. Blippar CEO   Ambarish Mitra   is basically tech’s version of Slumdog Millionaire. After running away from home and living in the slums of Delhi, India, Mitra sold magazines door-to-door. But then he won $10,000 in an e-business plan competition and used the money to form an Internet portal for women that was free to those with low incomes. He eventually IPO’d that business, studied at the London School Of Economics, and sold his next business, Swiftcover, to AXA Insurance. Mitra started Blippar when augmented reality was just in its infancy. And while devices like the Microsoft HoloLens promise a future where we see digital graphics overlay information atop ou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Now, turn 2D videos into 3D in a jiffy

By using a software that powers sports video games, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) have developed a system that automatically converts 2D video of soccer games into 3D. The converted video can be played back over any 3D device -- a commercial 3D TV, Google's new Cardboard system which turns smartphones into 3D displays or special-purpose displays such as Oculus Rift. "Any TV these days is capable of 3D. There's just no content. So we see that the production of high-quality content is the main thing that should happen," says Wojciech Matusik, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. Today's video games generally store very detailed 3D maps of the virtual environment that the player is navigating. When the player initiates a move, the game adjusts the map accordingly and, on the fly, generates a 2D projection of the 3D scene that correspond...
Post a Comment
Read more

World's Tiniest Engines Could Power Microscopic Robots

Scientists have created the world's tiniest practical engines, and these light-powered machines could one day power microscopic robots small enough to enter living cells, the researchers say. As  technological innovations   make devices smaller and smaller, scientists are developing machines that are only the size of complex molecules — nanometers, or billionths of a meter, in scale. In comparison, the average human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide. One of the main reasons "nanobots" remain in the realm of science fiction is that figuring out a way to make them move has been challenging. Researchers have tried using a variety of power sources and propulsion systems for nanotechnology, but these typically lack speed, strength and control. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created] "There have been many small machines, but they operate incredibly slowly — taking many seconds or minutes to move a single arm, for instance — and with very low forces," said...
Post a Comment
Read more