A challange - Laptop Tracking\monitoring

neilw · 31 May 2012 at 13:45

I work in a medium sized office with around 200 users.

A number of user have laptops, which I belive are just being used a desktop machine, ie never taken out the office.

Can anybody thing of a way I could track these machines to see when they leave the building. So if a user is not using there machine they way it was intended I can go back to them and say "you've not taken your machine offsite for x weeks" jusitfy to me why you need a laptop and not a desktop.

PhillyDee · 31 May 2012 at 13:49

Kensington lock it to the desk. State its for insurance reasons and they have to get the keys from you to be able to take it home.

neilw · 31 May 2012 at 13:57

Nice Idea but I'd have to do it for every laptop (50+ Machines) in the building.

I wouldn't be able to just lock the 10 or i suspect are just sitting on the desk.

TBirdUK · 31 May 2012 at 14:00

Are they being used on the networked? If they are and its wired you counld monitor the network usage/IP - if wireless you could monitor the wireless location (although not sure on that one)

Saundie · 31 May 2012 at 14:11

A scheduled task to do "net time >> c:\temp\netlog.txt && ipconfig >> C:\temp\netlog.txt" would dump the IP address and current time into a text file at C:\temp\netlog.txt. You'd need to find a way to parse the crude log that'd result, but it'd tell you if they're on your subnet or not.

Confused · 31 May 2012 at 14:12

Add a small script to the All Users\Start Menu\Startup folder (so it runs whether they're on the network or not) which records the logon date/time and any active IP address to a text file.

Then, check this file as part of a "desktop health check" you decide to perform in a couple of months time

neilw · 31 May 2012 at 14:26

Yes there all on a domain.

neilw · 31 May 2012 at 14:28

Thanks Saundie & Confused ideas sound like they could work.