T61 security

[SetTainte]

This must be a little dumb question...

What should I do to get my T61p quite safe?
Just in case someone would sometimes steal it I wouldn't like that some information could be be gotten out of the hard drive...

And how can I get it to ask fingerprint at boot?

[Dead1nside]

Use a FDE (Full Disk Encryption) hard drive. Or use TrueCrypt on a normal hard drive to encrypt your data. Use OpenPGP when sending emails, use ZPhone when using VoIP etc.

[ryengineer]

snip...........And how can I get it to ask fingerprint at boot?

Set Power-on/and or HDD password in the BIOS and please write them down somewhere safe the very moment you set it. A Power-on Security menu will pop-up in the Fingerprint reader software afterwards under "Settings", check mark enable power-on security using fingerprints.

Thinkvantage Fingerprint reader software looks very different than IBM's but many of the menus are still the same, you can look at some diagrams explaining the procedure below:

How to configure Fingerprint Reader software

OR you can refer to the guide/tutorial included with the current Thinkvantage fingerprint software.