A lot of us do undercover work for the copsWe make keys for them and get them into places at 3 a.m. so they can set up surveillance equipment or put the bugs in place. It's part of the thrill of doing what we do. Contractors stink at installing dead boltsI can't tell you how many times I go out to rekey one or let someone in, and I find problems. If it's not installed right, it won't protect you. Here's what to know before hiring a handyman. The best lock is a dead bolt that’s properly installedIt should have at least a one-inch “throw,” and on the “strike side,” there should be a security plate with screws at least three inches long that go all the way into the door’s wood frame. These are signs your house is vulnerable to burglars. Use a double cylinder lock to avoid break-insIf you have a window on or near your door, a thumb-turn dead bolt won’t do much good. They knock out the glass, stick a hand in, and turn. Get a double cylinder lock that needs a key on the inside.

Think twice before you buy a locked safe at a flea market, estate sale, or auctionIt's probably going to cost you $300 or more to open it, and chances are, all you're going to find is mouse poop. When you buy a new house, always have your locks rekeyedOtherwise there's probably a master key out there that can easily open your home. Keys stamped “Do not duplicate” are duplicated all the timeAsk me about high-security locks with keys that can’t be replicated at the hardware store. You're supposed to check ID before you open anythingBut half the time when someone is locked out of their house or car, where do you think their ID is? These are the biggest mistakes people make with their safe:Spinning the dial too fast, trying to open it before it's unlocked, and forcing it closed when there's obviously a problem. It’s easy to defeat the cheapo locks from big-box storesMost are mass-produced by reputable manufacturers but to very low standards. Look for at least a grade 2.

Here are other things you should never buy at big-box stores. I've seen my share of dead bodiesIt's always a bad sign when the landlord calls to get into an apartment, and nobody's seen the tenant for ten days. Divorce lock-outs are a challengeThe soon-to-be-ex wife will call and say she’s locked out, so I get her in and change the locks. Then the husband calls with the same request. I refer him to a competitor. Don't feel bad if you have to call me twice in a short span of timeI once had a guy lock himself out of his house three times in one day. If you’re locked out, please call just one of usMore than once, I arrived at a lock-out to find two competitors’ trucks already there. At that point, we all agreed to leave and abandon the inconsiderate victim. Never tell me, "Don't worry. It's an easy lock."Every time someone says that, it takes an extra 10 minutes to get it open. It's the kiss of death. If you call at 2 a.m., bewawareIf some guy calls me because he’s locked out of his car at a strip club, a service call that’s normally $55 is automatically $100.

If he’s got money for strip clubs, he’s got money for me. Don’t believe a car dealer who says only he can duplicate keysIn most cases, a locksmith who specializes in automotive work can make you a key—usually cheaper. Try the doorI’ve gone to houses and found it open. (I’m still going to charge you for the service call.) If your key won’t turn, try WD-40 or silicone spraySometimes the pins get jammed up, and 25 to 40 percent of the time, that solves the problem. honda coupe for sale uaeHere are more brilliant uses for WD-40.garage door repair in melbourne fl Have a housekeeper who needs a key?glass garage door vancouver bc

Ask me to key your door so that your master key works on both the dead bolt and the doorknob, but hers works just on the knob. On the day she comes, lock only the knob. Many locksmiths in the phone book or online are scam artistsThey’ll quote you a great price, but when they get there, they’ll say you have a special lock they can’t pick, so they have to drill it open. Then they charge you $125 for a replacement lock you can buy at Home Depot for $25. car window repair fremont ohio, the official website of the Associated Locksmiths of America.garage door for sale in gautengThe requested URL /viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9728 was not found on this server.car glass repair wellingtonPhysical locks aren't very good.

They keep the honest out, but any burglar worth his salt can pick the common door lock pretty quickly. It used to be that most people didn't know this. Sure, we all watched television criminals and private detectives pick locks with an ease only found on television and thought it realistic, but somehow we still held onto the belief that our own locks kept us safe from intruders. The Internet changed that. First was the MIT Guide to Lockpicking, written by the late Bob ("Ted the Tool") Baldwin. Then came Matt Blaze's 2003 paper on breaking master key systems. After that, came a flood of lock picking information on the Net: opening a bicycle lock with a Bic pen, key bumping, and more. Many of these techniques were already known in both the criminal and locksmith communities. The locksmiths tried to suppress the knowledge, believing their guildlike secrecy was better than openness. But they've lost: Never has there been more public information about lock picking -- or safecracking, for that matter.

Lock companies have responded with more complicated locks, and more complicated disinformation campaigns. There seems to be a limit to how secure you can make a wholly mechanical lock, as well as a limit to how large and unwieldy a key the public will accept. As a result, there is increasing interest in other lock technologies. As a security technologist, I worry that if we don't fully understand these technologies and the new sorts of vulnerabilities they bring, we may be trading a flawed technology for an even worse one. Electronic locks are vulnerable to attack, often in new and surprising ways. Start with keypads, more and more common on house doors. These have the benefit that you don't have to carry a physical key around, but there's the problem that you can't give someone the key for a day and then take it away when that day is over. As such, the security decays over time -- the longer the keypad is in use, the more people know how to get in. More complicated electronic keypads have a variety of options for dealing with this, but electronic keypads work only when the power is on, and battery-powered locks have their own failure modes.

Plus, far too many people never bother to change the default entry code. Keypads have other security failures, as well. I regularly see keypads where four of the 10 buttons are more worn than the other six. They're worn from use, of course, and instead of 10,000 possible entry codes, I now have to try only 24. Fingerprint readers are another technology, but there are many known security problems with those. And there are operational problems, too: They're hard to use in the cold or with sweaty hands; and leaving a key with a neighbor to let the plumber in starts having a spy-versus-spy feel. Some companies are going even further. Earlier this year, Schlage launched a series of locks that can be opened either by a key, a four-digit code, or the Internet. That's right: The lock is online. You can send the lock SMS messages or talk to it via a Website, and the lock can send you messages when someone opens it -- or even when someone tries to open it and fails. Sounds nifty, but putting a lock on the Internet opens up a whole new set of problems, none of which we fully understand.