April 2nd, 2008
by Sunil Setty
I shouldn’t post this, but I am going to. What the hell.
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I’m sure many of you, especially those of you landing on this page via search, have used one of those cable laptop locks when you are traveling. I’ve used many, from the key to the combination. They seem to work well, but thing is that I lose the key or forget the combo. Anyway, part of the trials I figure.
So most recently I had a Targus Defcon CL lock get jammed on me while I was in an overseas office environment. I knew the combo, that wasn’t the problem, the darn thing just flat-out wouldn’t unlock.
Luckily my laptop was stuck in a fairly safe office area so I left it in a desk drawer overnight. But the next day I was determined to unlock it. One of the guys I work with had some tools on hand, but he said it was going to be a problem cutting the cable and/or dislodging the lock.
I first tried to open the laptop (an IBM) itself to unlock it somehow from the inside, but that little metal connecter hook from the lock to my laptop goes into a metal box that was too tough for me to get at.
Next step. Cutting the cable, which turned out to be an absolute breeze. To both our amazements a simple pair of wire cutters did the trick with no effort. It was easier then cutting a pizza. Nice protection system, Targus.
As for the actual lock, we tried to break it apart by peeling back the plastic and unscrewing the center latch, but no luck. Then with a paper clip we tried to jimmy it per the directions of a webpage we found on the trick. Again, no luck. But with the cable cut at least my laptop was mobile, though looked somewhat odd with a lock hanging off the side.
Now, back home, I just needed to get that busted lock off my machine if I ever wanted to lock it up again. Smash it? Melt it? Cut it? Yeah, cut it. I figured some sort of thin electric saw would do the trick, but I don’t have one of those lying around the house. After making slow, minor progress with a wood saw, I decided to go to my local hardware to store to see if I could speed things up.
Sure enough, a simple $8 hacksaw went through the lock in less than a minute, and I was free. Although I had to say to myself again, nice protection.
Moral of the story, stay away from the Targus combination locks. If you do use one and it gets jammed, don’t panic. Cut the cable and then use a hacksaw to snip the connector. As for a true protection system for your laptop I’m not sure what is the best. But for now I guess I need to go back to the key locks.
