LoJack technology can help you find your stolen car, and now it can help you find your stolen laptop.

The company is teaming up with Absolute Software to make CompuTrace: LoJack for Laptops.

“About 600,000 laptops are stolen in the United States every year, so it's a big problem,” said John Livingston of Absolute Software. “It affects corporations, educational (organizations), governments and consumers as well.

“Once you've installed the product, it automatically will dial into a monitoring service on a daily basis and just go to sleep if the machine hasn't been stolen. If it has been stolen, you let us know. We flag that particular serial number in our data center. The next time it calls in, it automatically sends an e-mail page to our recovery team. We then get the subpoena. And then with law enforcement, we'll get it back for you anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.”

CompuTrace has been around for several years, as have several other similar programs like zTrace, CyberAngel and Stealth Signal. They all promise to stick to your computer even if the hard drive is reformatted or the operating system is reinstalled.

Keep in mind, though, that it is tough to get police involved when your computer is in another country.

“If a PC ends up in a jurisdiction where we can't physically get it back, we can delete all the data on the computer,” Livingston said. “So if you have confidential information or files on the computer, we can make sure that information has been destroyed for you.”

At around $100 for three years of protection -- and less for less -- some experts say it's like buying insurance for your laptop.

“It's a great thing to have for like $50,” said Dan Evans of DigitalLife Magazine. “Take a shot. It they've taken your $3,000 laptop, what's $50 at that point?”

The software does you no good, however, if you just simply misplace the laptop. It has to be connected to the Internet to work.