Actually got my stolen laptop back!

[drivingwithbook]

A laptop was stolen from my home a few weeks ago and by the good graces of a computer repair person, I ended up getting the computer back. The police are overworked and recovering my second laptop that was also taken is not real high on their priority list. The recovered laptop is a Dell Inspiron N5010 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and it was password protected. Whoever took it or received it broke the password and that's pretty much it. Document files were still on the computer as well as images and even my fiancé's nickname as the computer owner. I've been in the eventviewer to do some other things and noticed activity for the time frame that the computer was in the thief's or someone else's hands. What can I find on the computer to help me find the thief and possibly my other laptop? IP addresses when it accessed the Internet possibly? Something, anything at this point would be appreciated.

 

[SandeepP]

A laptop was stolen from my home a few weeks ago and by the good graces of a computer repair person, I ended up getting the computer back. The police are overworked and recovering my second laptop that was also taken is not real high on their priority list. The recovered laptop is a Dell Inspiron N5010 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and it was password protected. Whoever took it or received it broke the password and that's pretty much it. Document files were still on the computer as well as images and even my fiancé's nickname as the computer owner. I've been in the eventviewer to do some other things and noticed activity for the time frame that the computer was in the thief's or someone else's hands. What can I find on the computer to help me find the thief and possibly my other laptop? IP addresses when it accessed the Internet possibly? Something, anything at this point would be appreciated.

Hi drivingwithbook,

Welcome to Seven forums.

Congratulations on getting your laptop back. Well first thing would be to check the history you should check all the browsers history to check where the user has gone. Hopefully you don't have a online wallet for making online payments.

Then check the history of the system regarding what files were accessed on the system. Also, ensure you run full scan for virus and malware so that there are no virus or any keylogging softwares left at your system.

Best of luck and congrats once again, I have lost one and never saw it again.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would also recommend changing all passwords to everything you use that has a password.

 

[z3r010]

It may be worth installing something like Prey Anti Theft: Track & find stolen Phones, Tablets and Laptops to make it easier to find if it gets stolen again.

 

[drivingwithbook]

I'd like to catch the thief that busted in my door so I'm wondering if there's a way to track where the computer was used. It may be impossible because I checked the history and that was wiped clean but that's pretty much the only thing they wiped from the memory. I installed and ran a full scan using malwarebytes; there were 1381 instances of malware on the computer. Luckily there was zero information stored as far as bank accounts and other numbers and all banks, creditors and a social security alert has been established. So far, so good and we know it works because my fiance' opened a new account last week and was asked some very in-depth, off the wall questions he was totally not expecting to help identify him and we were very grateful.

My objective is to try and catch these creeps who feel it is ok to just rip someone off.

 

[SandeepP]

I'd like to catch the thief that busted in my door so I'm wondering if there's a way to track where the computer was used. It may be impossible because I checked the history and that was wiped clean but that's pretty much the only thing they wiped from the memory. I installed and ran a full scan using malwarebytes; there were 1381 instances of malware on the computer. Luckily there was zero information stored as far as bank accounts and other numbers and all banks, creditors and a social security alert has been established. So far, so good and we know it works because my fiance' opened a new account last week and was asked some very in-depth, off the wall questions he was totally not expecting to help identify him and we were very grateful.

My objective is to try and catch these creeps who feel it is ok to just rip someone off.

Hi drivingwithbook,

Great to hear that it did not cost you monetarily to lose a laptop. I am not sure about how you can track which IP address was assigned to it earlier and what was the location of the last IP address assigned to this system.

I believe legally would not be possible as exchange companies would not give out this information until and unless asked through a investigation officer or something.

Best would be to check with the Police if they were able to identify the person who stole the laptop, chances are also he/she might have never connected it to internet.

 

[LearningNinja]

Bummer drivingwithbook in fact all the relevant info your after is somewhere deep in your computer but how to retrieve it is another story (they say the only way to destroy the PCs history and information is to smash it into little bits) it takes hackers that work for the police or that have trained the police in how to do it to be able to do such things. Ask the guy at the computer shop that you got your laptop back from if he knows someone really clever in that regards , you never know he might know a PC wiz but I am sure it would be a time consuming and possibility a costly exercise and yes the cops are not much help unless its a huge investigation thing. Good Luck.