17 January 2006 0:01 GMT / By Davey Winder

Have you ever left your computer alone while you pop off to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, and spent the entire 5 minutes worrying about someone nipping in and stealing your data or planting a Trojan horse application while you are away?

No, neither have we. Like the vast majority of people the simple act of logging-off if we are away for any length of time works surprisingly well enough. The addition of a screensaver that kicks in after a minute of inactivity and requires a password to resume operations covers us for those emergency dashes to the loo.

For some people, apparently, even having to type a password is too much effort and they need a totally automated solution. Which is where the Xyloc Solo comes in.

This remarkably simple device simply consists of a small radio frequency transceiver which plugs into a spare USB port and sits listening for a signal from the credit card sized transmitter key-come-name tag affair that you clip upon your person.

All the time that there is a connection between the two your computer works normally. Move out of the configurable range, usually the immediate vicinity of your computer so a couple of metres or so, the computer goes into secure lockdown mode. Only when you move back into range does the totally secure, 32-bit encrypted ID code stored within your smart name tag kick in and unlock things.

It certainly works as advertised, and if the key were a little smaller and less geeky might even be rather cool. Assuming you completely ignore the fact that you’ve coughed up £150 for the pleasure.

Do you know what we’d do if we really, absolutely, just had to have the lazy login? We’d buy a no-brand ‘Wireless PC Lock’ instead (www.prezzybox.com).

It’s cheap and cheerful, doesn’t provide the same levels of serious security that the Xyloc does, but works within a range of 2 metres and does the "computer turns off, computer turns on" trick perfectly well. As for cost, knock a zero off the price - yep you can buy them for just £15.

Verdict

Very secure, very clever, very expensive. The Xyloc is for those on a business budget only, everyone else who needs the functionality should buy the cheap gadget toy version instead.

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Review Recap

Made by

Security

Price as reviewed

££153.91

The good

Prevents anyone from accessing your PC when you leave the room.

The bad

Price, price and price

Quick verdict

Ye gods, you would have to have many secrets or be extremely paranoid to justify the cost of this device – buy the £15 alternative if they really are out to get you

Score

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