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Ask Leo: Your computer was stolen. What should you do?

October 26, 2009 by Leo Notenboom in leo notenboom
askleo

By Leo Notenboom

My computer was stolen. It's password protected, what files can the thieves see?

A reader asks: "My mid-tower computer was recently stolen in a burglary. The Windows Vista home ultimate system was password protected at start-up. What files can be accessed by those trying to enter the system?"

It'll take a computer savvy thief about 5 minutes to gain access to everything on your computer.

Yep. Everything.

Everything that you haven't otherwise protected, that is.

There's a fundamental premise that I try to remind people of from time to time. It's simply this:

If it's not physically secure, it's not secure.

So what do you do?

[This post is excerpted with Leo's permission from his Ask Leo blog.]

Leo Notenboom has been involved in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. After retiring from an 18 year career as a Microsoft Software Engineer Leo went on to create Ask Leo!, a free web site where he answers real questions from ordinary computer users.

FaceBook URL: Leo's Facebook

Twitter URL: http://twitter.com/askleo

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