Patent ID: 8241368

Claim:
A method for securing and disabling an electronic device, the method comprising: during boot up of the electronic device, automatically executing a basic input/output system (BIOS) component of; during execution of the BIOS component, automatically determining whether an application component has requested disabling of the electronic device; during execution of the BIOS component, in response to a determination that the application component has requested disabling of the electronic device, automatically performing operations comprising: displaying system information and an unlock key, and automatically prompting a user of the electronic device to enter an activation password to re-enable the electronic device, wherein the activation password may be obtained using the unlock key; and during execution of the BIOS component, in response to a determination that the application component has not requested disabling of the electronic device, automatically performing operations comprising: determining whether the electronic device contains a non-viewable component; in response to a determination that the electronic device contains the non-viewable component, automatically transferring control to the non-viewable component; and in response to a determination that the electronic device does not contain the non-viewable component, automatically restoring the non-viewable component.