stolen laptop

ozzyDe

ozzyDe

ozzyDe

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31 Mar 2006
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349
My father has had his laptop stolen from the house when the house was broken into,
It was quite good spec’s, the operating system was Windows home now he has a password on it
And a very good one is it easy for it to be broken in can they get passed the start up screen?
Also is there a way that Microsoft can void the OS should they go online

cheers
Big D
 
I'd doubt they would try to get into the laptop anyway. If the knew what they were doing, they'd format and reinstall another OS.
 
They can easily load a linux boot disk and find out the XP passwords. I think the only way to protect a laptop is full drive encryption or an encrypted partition, they could also recover the XP CD Key to re-install the OS.

If they don't know what they are doing then they can always still format the drive.

Sorry to say it :(.
 
BloomerzUK said:
I'd doubt they would try to get into the laptop anyway. If the knew what they were doing, they'd format and reinstall another OS.
Click to expand...
More like they would just bung it online or sell at a car boot sale without evening turning it on!
 
Unfortunatley windows provides negligible security, no encryption or anything. Even the authentication it does use is easily broken. So pretty much anything on your pc is accessible to someone with access to the machine. Microsoft can void the os though if the theft is reported to them. I don't imagine they are going to use the laptop though, it will be sold to someone else or used for fraud.
 
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I hate the way people say "Windows offers bad security" - as if having physical access to any other OS base is any more secure.
Give somebody physical access to a computer and alas security can easily be bypassed.
Be that Windows, Linux, MAC - whatever.

Data encryption can work and work very well, but obviously by default encryption is not switched on and most people only think about it after the event.

Despite what people say, MS OS's do not routinely "phone home" and announce their license number.
Sure there is an amount of checking done when Windows Update is used etc, however that is usually just Hash values confirming the OS is activated and legal rather than actual license codes.
 
if ntfs encyption was enabled (99% it wasn't) then they won't be able to read it at all without the password

if it's a simple password, then they'll get in no problem

if it had @ and ££%^ signs in it, then it'll be hard to get into unless they've got a paid copy of ophcrack.
 
stoofa said:
I hate the way people say "Windows offers bad security" - as if having physical access to any other OS base is any more secure.
Give somebody physical access to a computer and alas security can easily be bypassed.
Be that Windows, Linux, MAC - whatever.
Click to expand...

The fact that it doesn't encrypt important data makes it insecure, I never said other os were better in that respect. Though I imagine they don't use such an insecure hash for passwords like windows does...


Despite what people say, MS OS's do not routinely "phone home" and announce their license number.
Sure there is an amount of checking done when Windows Update is used etc, however that is usually just Hash values confirming the OS is activated and legal rather than actual license codes.
Click to expand...

When they try to activate windows after reformatting they will not be able to, thus rendering the computer pretty useless.
 
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if all u have to stop ppl is a startup password...then you better hope its not home made porn....that always ends up on the net
 
No porn not that sad, no its just full of business documents there is no use of any credit on the laptop its mainly the business documents all the documents are still on the main pc so they are backed up.

cheers
Big D
 
Energize said:
The fact that it doesn't encrypt important data makes it insecure, I never said other os were better in that respect. Though I imagine they don't use such an insecure hash for passwords like windows does...




When they try to activate windows after reformatting they will not be able to, thus rendering the computer pretty useless.
Click to expand...

I guess it was a question on Windows - so you used Windows in the answer :)
It's just anyone reading your answer might assume it's unsecure because it is Windows.
However any machine, any OS - once you've got physical access to it the data is as safe as being in a paper envelope in the rain.
Unless encryption has been used - and even when encryption has been used, if you've left the keys with it (the password) then it's not much good either.
 
Windows/NT security was hacked ages ago, ERD Commander can reset the passwords in nano seconds :p
If you wanna keep files safe then Encrypt them into a RAR using a tight password! All my bank details are rar'ed up using a 12 digit password containing Upper case, lower case, numbers and characters :p No ones except me is seeing that data!!!
 
Fibre_Optic said:
Windows/NT security was hacked ages ago, ERD Commander can reset the passwords in nano seconds :p
If you wanna keep files safe then Encrypt them into a RAR using a tight password! All my bank details are rar'ed up using a 12 digit password containing Upper case, lower case, numbers and characters :p No ones except me is seeing that data!!!
Click to expand...

When you unlock the rar, so to speak, it copies the file you open into temporary files. I'm not sure if it deletes it or not when it's done with it, but even if it does that file could be recovered with the right software.
 
bledd. said:
if ntfs encyption was enabled (99% it wasn't) then they won't be able to read it at all without the password

if it's a simple password, then they'll get in no problem

if it had @ and ££%^ signs in it, then it'll be hard to get into unless they've got a paid copy of ophcrack.
Click to expand...

Or a pirate copy downloaded of torrents ;)
 
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you have nothing to worry about, they will wipe it or sell it to someone to wipe. they won't be able to get into by guessing so unless they really really wanna know they will wipe it!
 
Assuming your dad setup his own login crudentials and if the default Administrator login that it is shipped with was not setup with a password, a quick trip via F8 and safe mode usually gets you in and remove the password that your dad had on his account.

As it was nicked though, the chances of them having even half a brain to do that would be too much and they would just flog it for a teenth innit.
 
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