Re: Stolen Computer

From: Roger Abell (mvpNOSpam_at_asu.edu)
Date: 01/08/05 

Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 22:27:28 -0700

But note that the hardwired MAC address can be overridden
so that the machine will use a different one when connecting. 

-- 
Roger
"Beamguy" <nobody@home.com> wrote in message
news:esNt8sN9EHA.3592@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Many hardware components in a PC have unique identifying codes - some are
> often provided to the internet. There was some noise a while back about
unique
> serial numbers in pentium processors that could be used to identify you.
More
> useful is likely the "Mac address" of your network card. It is a unique
code
> different for each and every networking card. If you don't know it for
your
> laptop there is a small chance that your ISP recorded it the last time you
logged
> into their network.
>
> If you have wireless networking it likely also has a record of the mac
address
> of your wireless card.
>
> If you know your mac address and the ISP of your "friend" you sometimes
can
> find the IP address of your pc through searching by "mac address". I have
never
> done this myself - but have been told it can be done.
>
>
> "redbear" <redbear@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DFDC0536-235E-4F42-AF77-6DCFB02B7153@microsoft.com...
> >I know who has it I just can not prove it. Thanks for your help.
> >
> >
> > "Tim Holman (MVP - Windows Security)" wrote:
> >
> >> http://www.pcphonehome.com
> >>
> >> Tracking the user down is fairly easy.  You'll get the IP address from
> >> pcphonehome, and you can trace this back to an ISP.  You then take out
a
> >> court order on the ISP to supply you with the details of the person
using
> >> that IP at the time.
> >> 90% of the time you'll find the laptop, but more often then not, the
'new'
> >> end user has bought this laptop in 'good faith' from a street corner,
so the
> >> original culprit can rarely be caught, although you do get your laptop
> >> back....
> >> Better still, make sure your laptop doesn't get pinched in the first
place,
> >> that you have regular backups of important data, and if necessary,
something
> >> like www.deslock.com to ensure your entire hard drive is encrypted so
no-one
> >> can see your data..
> >>
> >> "redbear" <redbear@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:76CB5B67-FE77-4E8F-AA6D-02E1FB1D241E@microsoft.com...
> >> >I came in on the end of a news segment that was talking about finding
> >> >stolen
> >> > computers. They said that if the person that stole the computer
connects
> >> > to
> >> > the internet they can be tracked down and I would be able to get my
> >> > computer
> >> > back. Do you know anything about this?
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>

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