My computer was stolen today, March 01, 2006. I had password protection in the bios and password protection as the administrator.
Question: How difficult is it to bypass these passwords? Would it take a knowledgeable computer person to bypass these passwords?
JS
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I just did some Googling and found a free program that you can install to track your computer in case it is stolen or lost...it claims it can survive a format. Doesn't help you out now but it is good for the future.
http://www.sharewareconnec
PC Phonehome will send an email to a specified address whenever it connects to the internet - even after a format. which of course identifies the sender. Unfortunately your pc is gone. The bios password is simple to remove, and a format solves the disk password problem. Of course as vectorform indicates, if they want your data it is there for the taking.
Chris B
the answer to this is not a simple yes or no.
if your PC is a recent laptop, it will be virtually impossible to bypass the password. the password is kept in a security chip on the disk controller, and even hooking the disk to another pC cannot bypass it.
in the case of a desktop, it is easier to bypass
"hooking the disk to another pC cannot bypass it" - really? i think when i open the notebook, takeout the hdd and connect it to some other board i can surely access that drive.
JohnnySax, if youre so concerned about your data on the notebook, consider buying a software which installs a runtime encrypted system. this means your hdd is totally crypted and only a pre-boot-loader decrypts the real os-loader into memory, and then every other hdd-access. this makes it impossible for others to simply access the hdd, because your selected password is needed, and algos like twofish or rijndael virtually cant be broken. check http://www.utimaco.com/ and look out for "safeguard easy"
No its no hard and you dont have to have alot of knowledge to do it.
I know kids who go to hacker sites that could figure it out in 2 minutes.
The bios password is a joke in most cases and removing the drive and putting it in another system will work. The admin password is easy to reset and if you didnt have file level security explicitly set theres little or no protection.
Sorry not what you wanted to hear. but if you have bank/cc info on there. Get on the phone!
Surly
did you read my posts? it is virtually inbreakable for modern laptops i said.
look here :
http://www.experts-exchang
but if it is a desktop, you may have more luck :
There are two possible solutions, both of which require opening your computer:
1. There may be a jumper next to your BIOS chip. Pulling this jumper will restore BIOS defaults, and remove the password.
2. If there is no jumper, locate and remove the CMOS battery for about 30-45 minutes. This should also restore BIOS defaults and remove the password.
nobus
This is a desktop Dell, year 2000. I recently had to remove the battery for 20 minutes
to remove bios password that I had forgotten. Much easier than messing with the "jumpers".
These thieves are not too bright. They by-passed many very valuable items and a newer
computer plus expensive software.
I am hopping they will go to a computer shop to get the computer to work. The police
are looking into this and have taken finger prints etc.
Thanks for your help.
JS
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by: vectorformPosted on 2006-03-01 at 22:35:22ID: 16082372
That doesn't help at all unfortunately. He could hook up the hard drive as a slave in another computer and pull all the data off it. Did you have any HD level security, like file encryption? Even if you did that can be bypassed too. I am not sure what you would do...there are ways to report your wallet stolen and get everything cancelled at once. Wish they had the same system for a stolen computer, that could let you remotely wipe personal data off the computer if it went online. But that could be labelled intrusive and an invasion of privacy so who knows.
So, be safe, and quickly start changing your passwords.