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Lost Laptop

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DNK

DNK

Great Pumpkin
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Anybody know if it's possible to track a misplaced and stolen laptop at a high school?
 
Wasn't that the big deal a couple of months ago in Seattle when parents found out they COULD track laptops? And activate the on-board camera?
 
Depends on a great many things. Is it a student or faculty machine? The IT group at the school may have tools for this (I work in IT for a school district).

If it's not being used and is shut off, it'll be much harder. If it's being used on the school's network, then the chances are good that the IT folks can sus it out.
 
Obviously a little late now, but when my kids went to college, I got an alarm that attached to the laptop. If it was even moved or lifted slightly, the alarm would sound.
Sure hope the youngsters are not in a heap of trouble.
 
If you know the mac address, you can track it if it is attached to the network again. The IT at our university did that a few years ago and REALLY surprised the thief.
 
I have found out ,after the fact, that I need the Mac address.
DOH!
My guess it is out of the HS by now.
We are offering a $50 reward for it ,no questions asked.
 
The manufacturer of your laptop may have that info if you registered it with them.
 
Was it used on a hard line? If so, the IT department (if they are worth their weight) would have your MAC address logged. All you have to do then is wait for it to get on the network again and they can nab the thief by pinpointing which line it's plugged into. Even on wireless, you can at least look at the sites being visited and try to track the person down.
 
rlwhitetr3b said:
If you know the mac address, you can track it if it is attached to the network again. The IT at our university did that a few years ago and REALLY surprised the thief.
Click to expand...

LOVE it!

Years ago, when the 'net was young, I was inspired by Simon, The BOFH.

Don's school could use him now.

MAC addys are logged along with all else on a well managed LAN scheme. But act fast, as some will only keep logs for a limited time (space considerations).
 
She probably only used it wireless and I don't know how Techy the school is. Not a hi dollar area.
 
Wireless NIC's have MAC addresses too. EVERY comm device has (a unique) one.
 
From the District IT guy

The MAC address would have to be for the Ethernet card, not the wireless card.

And the MAC address tables may or may not have still contain the address -- depends on the timer on the table.

If the laptop is on our student network, first it cannot get to the Internet (websites) without a manually set proxy address and port number. And second, the Apple laptop cannot get to the Internet for any other services because of firewall blocking.

If the laptop is on our network and default apple services are "on", then the firewall logs will show all the dropped traffic. I will look.
 
You might also keep an eye on ebay and craigslist... you never know, you might get lucky.
 
Tough to tell apart . They all look the same
 
Sure, but don't you have SN's?
 
DNK said:
Anybody know if it's possible to track a misplaced and stolen laptop at a high school?
Click to expand...

The big question is, what the heck are you doing hanging around a high school.
 
Several years ago, when my son was finishing up on his masters degree at Southern Oregon University (it was Southern Oregon State College back then), he left his flash drive in the library with all his thesis material on it. He posted several times around campus and at the coffee shops in Ashland, pleading for anyone to return it. Nothing worked until he posted that bad Karma will befall the person that had it unless it was returned. The next day it showed up. Oregonians believe in Karma.


Louisianians wouldn't even know what Karma is......
 
TR6BILL said:
Louisianians wouldn't even know what Karma is......
Click to expand...

<span style="font-style: italic">"Can I have the keys to the karma?"</span>
 
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