Someone stole my roommate's laptop- HELP!

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: sm8000
#5273 +(25265)- [X]

<erno> hm. I've lost a machine.. literally _lost_. it responds to ping, it works completely, I just can't figure out where in my apartment it is.

:laugh:

 

[zeruty]

Originally posted by: indamixx99
I thought the messenger service is disabled by default on most windows xp machines. At least it is on my machines.

Don't try to cloud the issue by introducing facts into the discussion!

 

[Bryophyte]

Pick the lock to his room and look for yourself? If it's a typical interior door lock, you can do it with a tiny flat screwdriver.

 

[Juice Box]

I am willing to bet you are seeing the old DHCP table (before it was gone). When you disconnect a wireless device from the network, it will still show up as "connected" until the DHCP lease is up. I'd try rebooting the router and check again, dollars to donuts says it won't be there anymore.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Juice Box
I am willing to bet you are seeing the old DHCP table (before it was gone). When you disconnect a wireless device from the network, it will still show up as "connected" until the DHCP lease is up. I'd try rebooting the router and check again, dollars to donuts says it won't be there anymore.

Bingo!

 

[bctbct]

McGyver meets the Nerds, just go kick the door in.

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: dawks

Originally posted by: mzkhadir

Originally posted by: pontifex
why are you guys asking if he knows the mac address or can ping it?

how is that going to help him physically locate the PC?

If its a slow ping, its out of his house. A fast ping would tell you that he is close by.

As said before, it may be an old listing. Depending on the router, that list is not updated daily, or even weekly. It might say a PC is 'connected' even if it hasn't connected in 7-8days. At which point it wouldn't help.

If he can ping it, then its still in range and would be easier to track down.

One thing I wanted to do was make a program that would launch hidden and and email me it's IP address every hour or so. So if it did get stolen, I'd know which network it was on. The only challenge then would be getting the ISP to release the account details of that IP, which they would probably never do without a court order.

To: dawks
From: dawks' old laptop
Subject: My IP address

192.168.0.4

Well yes, but it can also find the external IP. The stats program I'm running on my laptop right now gives an internal and external IP.