difficult to track down a stolen laptop?

[kimchicowboy]

My wife's state-issued laptop was stolen last night (see thread in automotive section). apparently, it has some kind of tracking software, but not sure what kind. It's probably going to be really difficult, if not impossible, to get it back, eh?

[cruelpupet]

Ive heard good things about http://preyproject.com/

But that only helps if you installed it before it was stolen.

Gmail keeps track of the 10 last IPs that connect to it, so have her check to see if theres a strange IP on her email account. That will at least give you a start.

[Devhux]

I remember a service called CompuTrace back in the day that would help find a stolen laptop (as long as you subscribed to the service and it was installed/enabled on the laptop). When a machine is reported stolen, it would cause the laptop to report back as soon as it was connected to the Internet.

[Cubsfan]

I know nothing about it, but there's this:

http://www.absolute.com/en/lojackforlaptops/home.aspx

[attgig]

if it had that tracking, i'd assume that the state would have the software necessary to find it.