Can a Laptop Be Tracked After Factory Reset

Updated on May 19, 2022

Tracking down your laptop after it has been stolen is a common method of regaining access to it. There is a good likelihood that the thief sold it on the black market, and the new owner reset it to factory settings.

Is it possible to follow a laptop after it has been factory reset? You may follow your laptop in a number of methods, such as using the built-in tracking systems, the serial number, the IP address, or a cloud connection, among other possibilities.

When your laptop hasn’t been customized in any way, this can be done. However, if a laptop has just been factory reset, the likelihood of it being tracked down is greatly reduced.

Can the laptop be traced after a factory reset, just in case? If this is the case, how can it be accomplished? We strongly encourage you to finish reading this guide.

The answer is no, sadly. You can no longer locate your computer if the thief deletes your hard disc or restores your machine to the manufacturer’s original settings.

Can I Recover a Stolen Laptop?

In reality, this is only true if you haven’t taken the necessary steps before the theft occurs. Take these, and your recovery prospects could be rather high. I’m simply referring to getting the hardware back. Attempting to recover data from that laptop is nearly impossible. Once they’ve obtained a heated PC, most burglars and fences will wipe the hard disk clean. It’s not a big deal if you’ve been diligently backing up your data as you should.

The police should be notified even if you haven’t taken any safeguards. Do not forget to mention the serial number in the report if you have it. If the cops find your laptop among other stolen goods, they won’t know that it belongs to you without it. You wouldn’t be able to prove it either because there would be no evidence.

Preparation before the theft significantly increases your chances of success–and I’m not just talking about actually writing the serial number. Think about subscribing to an IP address-tracking service if your laptop is stolen.

In reality, you may already have the necessary tracking software installed on your laptop. Absolute Software’s LoJack for Laptops is included in the BIOSes of most major laptop manufacturers. Even if the hard drive has been wiped clean, your laptop can still be monitored thanks to this feature. Make sure your BIOS is compatible with Absolute’s BIOS Compatibility page. You can still use LoJack’s software if yours does not have BIOS support, but the level of protection is not the same.

If you don’t sign up for their service before to the theft, you won’t be able to get your laptop back. The annual membership fee is $40. No, I’m not going to leave 100 laptops on picnic tables to see if the company’s claim of a 75% recovery rate is accurate. GadgetTrak, for example, provides similar services at a reduced cost. As previously stated, it’s impossible to know for sure doing a better job.

How Can a Laptop Be Tracked After Factory Reset?

After a factory reset, it is possible to follow a laptop’s whereabouts. If you have Computrace activated in the BIOS of your laptop, this will happen. It will ping home as soon as it connects to the online channel if this option is enabled. If your BIOS didn’t have this feature activated, there’s no way to hunt down a system to restore the laptop.

What Is Computrace?

Computrace is among the most often used applications included in a laptop’s firmware (BIOS). Absolute software first released the app in 2005 under the name LoJack for Laptops.

The app’s main goal was to track down stolen or lost computers, but it also included a slew of other useful capabilities, such as the ability to remotely lock and remove files from a stolen or lost laptop. Using this anti-theft software, you can locate your missing or stolen laptop with ease. In the event that your laptop is stolen or lost, the application will help you locate it. Upon determining the most recent location of your laptop, it notifies local authorities, who can then use that data to assist you retrieve your lost device.

Sadly, not many people are aware of this wonderful app, therefore don’t enable it for safety reasons. Because it was not activated, there is no sense in having Computrace on your laptop.

How to Enable Computrace on A Laptop?

It’s important to perform these procedures so that Computrace can be activated on your laptop in the event of an emergency.

• Activate your computer.
• Press the F2 key as soon as your laptop’s logo appears.
• Click on ‘Security,’ which you may find by using the keyboard to scroll down the page.
• Now, select “Computrace(R)” from the drop-down menu.
• Once you’ve finished, make sure the ‘Activate’ indicator is highlighted.

Is Computrace Compatible to Work with Linux?

If you have a Linux computer, you may find it difficult to use Computrace effectively. The main issue is that this developed feature is hidden in Linux PCs; consequently, the people fail to engage with it.

Furthermore, Computrace’s principal plan is to take over the laptop and accomplish activities that the Operating System is unable to perform. Considering the reality, some portions of Computrace do operate on Linux PCs conversely, some fail badly.

Is It Possible to Replace My Bios Chips without Removing Computrace?

The BIOS chips can malfunction and stop being able to be updated. If this happens, you may need to upgrade your chip. As a socketed PLCC or DIP chip, the Basic Input/Output System must be handled with care.

Remove the old BIOS chip carefully and either reprogramme it with the newest BIOS code edition or use a totally fresh and new BIOS chip. If you’re wondering if you can swap out your laptop’s BIOS chip without removing the Computrace, the answer is yes. The Computrace LoJack software does not need to be disabled or removed in order to replace an outdated BIOS chip.

How to Determine if I Have Computrace on My Laptop?

Anti-theft security isn’t incorporated into every laptop or computer model, as we all know, so it’s best to double-check to see if yours has it. Follow these steps to find out:

• Your keyboard’s Ctrl, Shift, and Esc buttons must be pressed simultaneously.
• Your task manager will appear.
• Go to the ‘Services’ tab in the manager.
• This is where you’d find a big list of programs that are now executing on your laptop.
• In order to make your research more efficient, select ‘Name.’ This will sort the services alphabetically.
• Look for rpcnet.exe in the Name column as you scroll down the list.
• After stumbling across a computer, search for ‘Computrace’ typed in the Description field.

If you detected a duplicate item, then Computrace is already installed and working properly on your laptop. The absence of the Computrace program on your laptop will be apparent if you cannot locate it in the complete list.

How Is Computrace Disabled from Bios?

If you lose or break your laptop, having Computrace installed on it is a huge help in getting it back. The following are the steps you’ll need to know in order to disable the application in your BIOS:

• To shut down your computer, press and hold the power button.
• As soon as the logo appears, you can restart the laptop.
• Press F2 as soon as you detect it.
• Select ‘Security’ from the drop-down menu on this page.
• There will be three choices presented to you, and you must select ‘Disable’ from the list.
• Now, press the Enter key on your keyboard.

The Computrace functionality in your BIOS cannot be reactivated after being disabled. So, take your time and make an informed decision. The machine will restart once you click the F10 key to save your changed BIOS settings.

Can I Remove Computrace from My Bios?

It is easy to disable as well as completely remove the Computrace LoJack software from your BIOS. Here are the steps to follow:

• Your laptop’s browser should be open at this time.
• Visit the official website of Absolute Software.
• There is an option to delete Computrace from your laptop in this section.
• Select ‘Submit’ when you’ve completed the request.
• Absolute will send you an email verifying that the relocation was performed on purpose by the owner.
• The Computrace LoJack will be removed from your BIOS once the request has been verified.

Is Wiping out Computrace an Intelligent Decision?

In today’s fast-paced world, computer theft is no longer a rare occurrence. Every day, we see robberies in which people’s money, jewelry, and other valuables are stolen from them.

To experience the trauma of the theft of a laptop, it’s best to avoid it at all costs. To begin with, computers are an expensive buy that not everyone can afford. The owner’s personal information is also included in these. Laptop theft is a breach of privacy, therefore its owners do everything they can to find and retrieve their device. There are several applications for this.

With Terminal, you can find out how to find the Admin Password on your Mac. When it comes to anti-theft protection software, Computrace is one of the most commonly used and trusted names in the business. However, the program must be manually activated before it can be used. Computrace LoJack seems to be a bad choice for anybody who wishes to disable it.

As a valuable part of your laptop’s security, why would you want to disable it? It’s not a good idea, in our opinion, to remove Computrace from your laptop permanently.

Can a Laptop Be Tracked without Internet

Wi-Fi is the most common method of connecting a laptop to the internet for laptop tracking software. Thus, when there is no internet connection, it is of no use. Laptop tracking software that doesn’t require an internet connection is designed to help you find a lost or stolen laptop.

Can You Track a Computer if It’s Off

As soon as the Google Play app is installed, the phone’s location can be tracked. It’s impossible to find your stolen phone if it’s been shut down, disconnected from the internet, or deleted by the thief.

Can a Brand New Stolen Laptop Be Tracked

To track down an unused laptop in a box, there is virtually minimal that can be done Considering that the laptop was never powered on, it is quite probable that the laptop was never registered and that no programs were installed to protect the laptop from being stolen.

Can You Track a Wiped Laptop

In a nutshell, the answer is yes. However, the expertise is lacking in the majority of small and midsize departments. It is relatively easy for police to enter a laptop as stolen and search for it if they have a lot of information about it.

Can Factory Reset Laptop Be Tracked

No matter how many times the laptop has been factory reset, the Computrace feature will still work. When the computer is next connected to wifi, it will send a “ping home” signal. It’s impossible to trace a laptop once it has been factory reset if you haven’t done this.

How Do Police Track Stolen Laptops

When a laptop is stolen, a piece of hardware or software installed on the computer might assist police to identify and find it. Before the laptop is sold, these components, such as ’s GPS chips or monitoring tools, are added.

How Can I Protect My Laptop from Being Tracked

Keyloggers and other trackers that steal personal information can be stopped by keeping your antivirus definitions current. Once you’ve double-clicked on it, go to “Update” in your antivirus program. To ensure your computer is virus-free, return to the “Full Scan” menu and select that option. … Scan your computer for tracking cookies by installing an adware or spyware application.

Can We Track Laptop Using Ip Address

If your computer is stolen, an IP address might be used to identify it. Tracking a stolen computer via the Internet is easier than locating it in the real world, but there are various software tools that can identify when the thief was using your computer to go online.

Is Factory Reset Bad for Your Computer

Factory resets don’t always work. They don’t remove all of the files from the hard drive. Even if the hard disc fails, the information is still there. When a hard drive is erased, it doesn’t mean that the data stored in it has been completely wiped out; rather, the data could no longer be retrieved by your system.

Can a Laptop Be Tracked by Serial Number

No. In order to track your laptop, you cannot use its MAC address or Serial Number. To keep track of it, you’ll need specialized software.

Can Companies Track Your Laptop

Keeping an eye on your work computer Nearly anything you do on a work laptop or in the company’s virtual private network can be monitored by your boss. In order to keep track of employees’ keyboard activities, supervisors can use keystroke monitoring.

How Do Hackers Avoid Being Tracked?

Most of a hacker’s efforts are devoted to establishing and maintaining secure network connections and disguising their activities online. In addition to this, they take great care to protect their physical devices. Hard discs that require a passcode to be used are one of the most prevalent methods.

Can I Track My Laptop with Google

Retrieval clients can now use Google Maps if their computers are lost or stolen so that they can locate them if they are connected to the internet. “ This is a brand-new feature for Google Maps. This functionality is free for the first 25,000 users that download and install the software.

Conclusion

Keeping an eye out for a thief is always a good idea because you never know when your luck will turn against you. We must be extremely cautious and take all necessary precautions in today’s environment, where losing your personal belongings to a thief is not uncommon.

Since it makes it impossible to track down a stolen laptop, the person who gets their hands on it will try to completely reset it as quickly as they can. Anti-theft security application Computrace can be readily configured in your laptop’s BIOS and used to locate your stolen laptop if you are aware of the application and have activated it.