Locking with a Flashdrive?

[SmilingJak]

I just purchased a new notebook with Vista Home Premium 64-bit loaded onto it and I am a little paranoid about security. Because I bring my laptop around with me everywhere I go due to my life in general, I am a bit apprehensive about having it stolen if I need to leave it unattended for more than a few minutes at a time or in my car for several hours, as I have heard thieves doing lately. In any case, I'd rather not let anyone be able to actually ever use the thing without me being at it physically. So, I was curious if it is possible for me to use a flash drive as a way keep people from booting it up. In other words, loading a specific program or drive onto the flash drive so that the laptop will not physically boot up if the drive is not in one of the USB ports.

Is that at all possible with Vista?

 

[Scotteq]

...besides shutting down and using the password to access?

Here's a way to lock the computer from within the operating system.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70283-lock-computer.html