VUWER (pronounced like “viewer”) is an application designed to remotely track your Mac laptop (or any other Apple computer) in the event that it is lost or stolen. If you can determine the location of your missing laptop, and the name, address, or image of the person using it, and provide this information to the police, then you may have a chance of recovering your property. VUWER is not foolproof, but it is reasonably secure, easy to implement, and costs nothing but a little time and effort to set up.

Features:
• VUWER is free of charge, open source, and relies on standard OS X commands and readily available freeware applications for installation and operation. Also, since VUWER is written in Applescript, it is relatively easy to modify or enhance in any way you choose.
• You are in complete control of where the captured data from your stolen laptop is sent and how it is accessed; data can be transmitted either by email or by secure file copy to another computer account.
• You can remotely capture screenshots, iSight images, and IP geolocation information from your laptop, and separately choose their respective repetition intervals.
• No third-party intermediary is required to track your laptop. VUWER eliminates any possibility of an unscrupulous person at a theft-recovery company snooping on you.

How VUWER Works
• VUWER is a background process that automatically starts running upon login to a user account on your laptop. VUWER periodically monitors a web page or remote computer account that you create. By altering a line of text on the web page, or a text file on the remote account, you can instruct VUWER to automatically capture screen shots, iSight image files, and the IP address (with associated geolocation information) that your laptop is using to connect to the Internet, and send that information to you at regular intervals.

The installation of VUWER is a three-part process:
• First, you must set up a means of controlling VUWER remotely, and receiving data transmitted by VUWER from your laptop.
• Second, you must install the VUWER software on your laptop and enable it to run on at least one user account.
• Third, you should create a guest account for a thief to access, and protect your own account with a login password. (This last step is optional, but highly recommended.)

Start by selecting one of two installation options for VUWER remote control and data transfer:
(1) Controlling VUWER using a Gmail account and a personal web page, with data sent to another email address that you specify (recommended for most users), • Instructions for Installation
or:
(2) Controlling VUWER from a remote computer account, with secure copy (SCP) used to transfer data to that same account (recommended for experienced users only).
• Instructions for Installation

Most people will probably want to select Option 1, since setting up a simple web page is very easy to do with Google Sites. Experienced computer users who can obtain and configure a remote computer account may prefer the improved data transfer performance of Option 2.

Requirements:
OS X 10.4.11+
Universal Binary