Losing your laptop to a dirty rotten thief can be a painful experience, particularly if you work for the government and half the population’s names. addresses, and vital statistics were stored unencrypted on it, but now a new piece of free software aims to help you locate your beloved portable PC.

Adeona was developed by researchers at the Universities of Washington and California. This bit of software is installed on the laptop (before it’s nicked, obviously) and then sends encrypted notes to Internet servers about the PC’s location…