Is Computrace in my Bios?

T60/T61 series specific matters only
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audioresearch
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Is Computrace in my Bios?

#1 Post by audioresearch » Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:44 pm

I bought an IBM T61 laptop in Jan 2010 from Ebay. I am not the original owner.

I'm trying to figure out if my laptop contains Computrace in its bios.

According the the Computrace website, the Lenovo T61 (which I assume includes a T61 with the IBM brand), is supposed to contain Computrace in its bios.

But my bios setup does not show any setting anwhere for Computrace including in the "security" settings area and that includes no setting to enable or disable Computrace.

How can I know for sure if my bios does or does not contain Computrace?

If a previous owner activated or disabled Computrace, would the Computrace settings disappear from bios setup?

Admin note: Moved from the X6x forum.

bill bolton
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Re: Is Computrace in my Bios?

#2 Post by bill bolton » Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:36 pm

audioresearch wrote:I'm trying to figure out if my laptop contains Computrace in its bios.
No, it doesn't contain " Computrace", but it will have the ability to support Intel's AMT technology (if you choose to enable it), which is what Computrace Lo-Jack uses to provide its service.

However, before getting too enthusiastic about the Lo-jack service, you might want to read some reviews.....

http://www.amazon.com/Computrace-LoJack ... B000BRCZZK

http://cryptome.org/lojack-hack.pdf


Cheers,

Bill B.

richk
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Re: Is Computrace in my Bios?

#3 Post by richk » Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:35 pm

There is code in the BIOS to support computrace, but you need to buy a sunscription from absolute software to turn it on. You will need to run something from them to activate. Once activated, it can only be deactivated by them.

ThinkRob
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Re: Is Computrace in my Bios?

#4 Post by ThinkRob » Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:44 pm

Also, the whole "re-installs itself when the OS is re-installed, etc." pitch is only true if the thief installs Windows.

So... you know... if Stallman steals your ThinkPad you're screwed.
Need help with Linux or FreeBSD? Catch me on IRC: I'm ThinkRob on FreeNode and EFnet.

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