Attention, computer owners! According to statistics, every minute somewhere in the world, a computer is stolen. Think you have nothing valuable on your machine except some MP3s and e-mails? Your computer's memory could contain personal information that will be a treasure trove for an identity thief: credit card numbers, usernames and passwords. A Social Security number alone would be enough for a thief to open numerous fraudulent credit card accounts under your name! So take some simple precautions to protect not only your computer, but all valuable information you have on it.

Just imagine: you walk into your home and understand that you have become the victim of a burglary. Besides your TV and jewelry, the thief took your computer. Of course, it is not a good situation, but if you call only the police and your insurance agent, the burglary may get even worse.

You computer is a gold mine of different information about you. If you are a frequent e-commerce customer, you definitely have used your plastic money for purchases. Trying to be helpful, browsers often offer automatic login feature that saves your user name and password. You may have checked the box that says "remember me on this computer," so your user name and password automatically pops up every time you open shop websites. It is an open invitation for an identity thief to go on a shopping spree!

New technology makes it easier for criminals to find personal and financial information you have on your computer. Did you fill out any job applications or send e-mails with your personal data? Or maybe you have online banking account? All that information is stored within your system. Even though you have deleted these files from Recycle Bin, remnants may still be on your computer's hard drive, where they may be easily retrieved. So your personal data are right there for the taking!

If somebody receives access to your valuable information, he or she can use it to commit identity theft. Typically, criminals open new accounts under somebody's name. That can lead to serious financial losses down the road. Some people reported out-of-pocket expenses of $1,200 or even more! Many identity theft victims also face with such problems as harassment by debt collectors, serious FICO score drop and criminal investigations.

Recovering from new account fraud is a time-consuming and costly process. The average person spends about 600 hours clearing his or her identity. You will have to deal with credit bureaus and lenders to replace all your credit cards and remove fraudulent accounts from your credit report. Want to avoid such consequences? You can greatly reduce the risk by acting quickly as soon as your computer has been stolen. The best advice is to immediately contact your credit company. If you made payments online, you may need to freeze or even close your bank accounts.

If you had online accounts on eBay, Amazon or PayPal, notify their customer services about the burglary and ask them to guard against possible fraudulent charges under your name. And don't forget to call all the three credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on your credit report or subscribe to credit monitoring. It is a good way to minimize the financial consequences of identity theft and save time and money on FICO score repair.