Does anyone know of a way to track or recover a stolen laptop if the laptop did not have the tracking software installed on the laptop prior to the theft?

i.e. does anyone know of any programs out there that transmit unique data when connected to the internet that I could try to track? A friend's laptop got stolen last night and all of her notes, etc. were on there.

 

i'd have to imagine that it's possible for MS to see where the computer is. If the PC has XP and it's registered, it's all a matter of matching the activated serial number to an IP trying to retrieve an update.

will they actually help you out, no.

 

yeah, that sucks.

 

our firm purchases software from this vendor
www.absolute.com

Its a software that Dell installs for us on the machines we lease from them.
If our equipment "grows legs" we could trace it using the method above.

 

the best thing to do right now ...

report it stolen

hand out flyers to local pawn shops describing the computer. there is a serial number attached to it and hopefully she has that on file.

check ebay daily for new listings

keep your fingers crossed. :happysad:

 

HowTo steal a laptop, by clickwir.

1) as soon as you have the laptop, turn it off put it in a metal box. (this will kill any chances they have a 3rd party tracking device)

2) take it a mile or few away but still somewhere public, turn it on and format the drive with several 'utilities'

3) turn it off again and put it back in the metal box

4) go another 2 or 3 miles from your current location (but not back to where you got it from, stupid) and open up the laptop and look for some kind of transmitter. If you find one, remove it. (chances are slim that there is one, but if there is and you don't remove it, your dead)

5) go a long distance away. 30+ miles. Get a public locker and put the laptop in there for about a week or two. (this will help get them off your trail, if any and a good chance they will just give up)

6) get the laptop and go about 2-5 miles from the locker and then do another format with some 'utilities'

7) back in the locker for a week

8) if nothing has happened by now and noone has made any mention of it to you. Take the laptop back and enjoy.

 

Wow, that software is pretty much worthless unless your lappy is worth less than 1G. The first thing any thief should do is wipe the drive.

 

:yes: and disable any internal wireless internet adapters.

 

Hmmmmmmmm. I might have to get this for my company. Part of my job now is to manage our assets thru a program called Hardcat. It's a decent program and does what it needs to do but this "absolute" looks like it can do so much more. Thanks for pointing that one out.

 

Yeah this is a good company.
Who ever posted those 10 steps to steal a laptop really made me laugh.
Even if there is a transmitter you wont see an " antenna" sticking out from the motherboard.

With absolute software it installs the software to the BIOS of the unit.
Once your computer gets online. Your IP and other stuff gets sent to Absolute and it CAN be traced from there.

We created a scenerio here where I took a laptop home and I reported it stolen.
2 days later I get a fax from absolute with the
ISP
the IP address where it was tracked
and the address of where to find it.

Cant get any better than that!..