Laptop Stolen-But Logon has password

My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
prevent access to my files?
Thanks for all help.
jk

It might. It depends on how skillful the person is that accesses your
PC. Was this XP home or Professional? If it was professional, I
think that the files can be encrypted. Did you have any encryption on
this hard drive?

On Nov 6, 5:15*pm, jkpaz <jk...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> My laptop was stolen today. *The logon is 'password protected'. *Willthis
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

No, only some form of drive encryption will prevent access.
Login passwords are just a hindrance to anyone who steals
a notebook. They likely know all the tricks to accessing the PC.

It's likely the thief is more interested in reselling the notebook
than trying to access your data. If any secure accounts have
passwords stored ( Banks, Credit Cards ) you'll need to call
each and inform them of the theft. A police report is a valid
way to initiate Fraud alerts on your 4 Credit reports without
having to pay any fee.

"jkpaz" <jkpaz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A8AF4CDA-225B-4232-A0E0-F582BECC4539@microsoft.com...
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

"jkpaz" <jkpaz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A8AF4CDA-225B-4232-A0E0-F582BECC4539@microsoft.com...
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will
> this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

No! It is easy to bypass. Although if they are not too bright, they will
logon with your email or IM or something. Then the server will have
their IP address and you can find out who has it.

--
Bill
Windows7 Ultimate (build 7100)
Gateway MX6124 - 2G RAM

Somewhat.

jkpaz wrote:
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:15:01 -0800, jkpaz
<jkpaz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?


If the thief, and everyone he works with, is a technical beginner,
yes.

Otherwise, no.

So, for all practical purposes, the answer is no.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

jkpaz wrote:

> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

You think the thief doesn't know how to Google on "+windows +crack
+password"?

On Nov 6, 6:15*pm, jkpaz <jk...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> My laptop was stolen today. *The logon is 'password protected'. *Willthis
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

Where was this?

jkpaz wrote:
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'.
> Will this prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.

No.

Doubtful they care about your files unless they are stealing identities or
you have some important information and they know/stumble upon this.

The answer could be 'maybe' - if you used file/folder/disk encryption.

But in general - no.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:49:32 -0600, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:

> jkpaz wrote:
>
> > My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> > prevent access to my files?
> > Thanks for all help.
> > jk
>
> You think the thief doesn't know how to Google on "+windows +crack
> +password"?


Moreover he could boot from a non-Windows CD and access the files. Or
he could remove the hard drive and install it in another computer and
access the files from there.

As I said, only a beginner couldn't do it.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

jkpaz wrote:
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk


No, not at all. Without physical security, there is no security. It'd
take less than 5 minutes for anyone with physical access to the
computer, a small amount of knowledge, and any of the dozens of
Linux-based password cracking tools that are freely available to anyone
who can use Google.

File Encryption would stop a rank amateur from accessing your
files, but only delay a professional who stole the laptop with the goal
of getting at your data. Encryption is helpful, but none is 100% iron-clad.

If you have data that you absolutely cannot afford to have accessed,
never store it on the laptop's internal drive.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

"jkpaz" wrote:

> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

Nope.

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

> On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:49:32 -0600, VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
>
>> jkpaz wrote:
>>
>>> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
>>> prevent access to my files?
>>> Thanks for all help.
>>> jk
>>
>> You think the thief doesn't know how to Google on "+windows +crack
>> +password"?
>
> Moreover he could boot from a non-Windows CD and access the files. Or
> he could remove the hard drive and install it in another computer and
> access the files from there.
>
> As I said, only a beginner couldn't do it.

Wouldn't even need to take the hard disk to another host. He could
could even reuse the same hard disk. Just boot using a partitioning
utility, resize the original OS partition (to make it smaller), create a
new partition from the freed space, install Windows over there, logon as
an admin user in the new instance of Windows, and then as administrator
take ownership of the files in the partition with the prior instance of
Windows.

Even beginners can ask here on how to do it, including those that
pretend to have lost their laptops or suddenly forgotten their password.

anyone with physical access to the pc, can bypass password protection.

"jkpaz" wrote:

> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk

You might get lucky and the thief will take it to a computer repair shop to
get his "forgotten password" removed.

We had a guy bring a laptop to the shop the other day with that story. Told
him to leave it with us and we'd call when ready. Poked through the files
and found info on the real owner. Called him and confirmed that the laptop
was indeed stolen 4 days prior. Police came. Owner got his laptop back.
Thief got squat.

Owner didn't press charges so all the thief got was a good chewing out when
he called me to see if the laptop was ready to pick up.

Call the local computer shops and ask them to be on the lookout for your
laptop, in case your thief is as clueless as the one we dealt with. Be sure
to report to police too.

"jkpaz" <jkpaz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A8AF4CDA-225B-4232-A0E0-F582BECC4539@microsoft.com...
> My laptop was stolen today. The logon is 'password protected'. Will this
> prevent access to my files?
> Thanks for all help.
> jk