Chris asked on our Facebook page about tracking a stolen laptop, in this case brand new in the box. Can you get it back? Short answer; no. Now for the long answer.


"Have a friend who's desktop computer was stolen. She never even took it out of the box so it was never turned on. Any ways to track its whereabouts?"

If it was new in the box, odds are this person will use it for years but we never want to assume criminals are smart. You want to file a police report, if you have the serial number and hope this scumbag tries to pawn it. Being new, there’s a better chance of it being pawned or even sold to someone else who might pawn it.

The problem with tracking it is that you often need an account. Since it was never taken out of the box to register it for tracking, you are out of luck on tracking.

For anyone else, you want to get software for any age laptop. Prey is a popular choice and is available for all devices.

Another option is using a service like Dropbox or Gmail. When the person logs in you can get their IP address but you will still need to file a police report, get a subpoena to find out where they are and hope the police will follow through; especially considering this could take a month.

So, it’s up to you. How bad do you want it back? Flip a coin. Heads, you try; tails you don’t. Since your odds are less than that in recovering your stolen device, it seems a fitting way to decide.

PS: If you’re wondering about a cell phone or tablet, little changes from what we discussed above. Aside from the stupid thief, all phones have serial numbers and ID’s of some sort, so a police report can be filed but odds are your phone was shut off, shipped overseas, any ID erased and put back to use.