hai guys.

so i bought this laptop from this guy for very cheap.
now im pretty sure its stolen,
and i can't contact the guy.

now i was wondering how to check if i have lojack?
and how to remove it.

i read somewhere that it shows up in task manager under 'rpt services' or something like that.
i have installed another OS (vista) on another partition.

im having trouble on formatting the other drives, mostly because im new to vista.
i tried partition magic 8, but it doesn't run on vista.

now the laptop, also has a 'hidden partition', which is a recovery console, as well as an OEM version of vista.
should i format that?
would lojack be in there?

i havn't connected the laptop to the internet, because i know thats how lojack works,
once it is reported stolen, it send a call out to 'home',
and when a call is receieved as stolen, the company contacts my local police department
and they come knocking on my door.


anyway i can check?

just format the laptop. If you want the data(curiousity/whatever), flip out the hard drive and connect it to another computer, just dont boot off it, or if you are, then make sure theres no way it can connect to a network.

Lojack installs bits to the bios as well, If you dont get those, you're screwed.

Step one, go to the manufactures website and install a new version of the bios, probably with a usb.
Step two, format the drive.

good idea
that's 'flashing' the bios right?

how do i format the harddrives in vista?

i've tried using magic partition 8, but that doesn't work in vista,
and ive tried the system administrator disk managenemtn,
and the hidden partitions aren't showing up,
and/or arn't letting me format them.

Download the gparted live cd, Vista might ignore the section where lojack is hidden. Better yet, use this.
http://www.sharewareplaza.com/Active...load_4147.html
But for the love of god and all that is holy, dont leave it in your computer.

Download Ultimate Boot Disk (free linux distro) and burn it to CD and boot from that.

How to remove lojack from a laptop. including the bios part.

Has worked for me.

http://www.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lis.../msg00207.html

Have fun.

BTW:

It'd be best to erase data on the hard drive. a Quick format will do.

After the quick format, shut down the laptop and take out hard drive. Start with what I posted above, and rechecksum the bios. And done.

lol at lisa what-ever-her-name-is haha