While you may want to keep your laptop for as long as you can, your luck may be shortlived.
In today’s world where humans want to climb up the ladder by crook or hook, you may fall into the theft trap when you least expect it. You may lose your treasured assets such as your laptop, phone, or other assets that may contain vital information.
If your laptop has been stolen, and you don’t want to be tracked, you may want to know how to make it untraceable. Also, if you are on the other side of the coin, and you got your hands on a stolen laptop either legally or illegally, or you bought a laptop in the dark web from an authorized seller, you may want to make it untraceable.
NB: It is illegal to steal or handle stolen goods, and you can be fined or jailed by a court of law if you are found guilty. If you are planning to buy a stolen laptop, simple DON’T do it. We recommend buying laptops ONLY from authorized dealers like Amazon or retain shops.
How To Make a Stolen Laptop Untraceable (Quick Answer)
You can make a stolen laptop untraceable by installing proxies and VPN applications, formatting the hard drive, and reinstalling the operating system. Moreover, you can encrypt the keystroke, use a strong password, surf anonymously, keep off Microsoft and Google services, disable the anti-theft feature and location services, and choose a bolted screen saver.
10 Ways on How to Make a Stolen Laptop Untraceable
Use these methods to make your stolen laptop untraceable:
1. Disable the Laptop’s Location Services
If you bought a laptop from an unauthorized seller, you must first disable the location service. The specific process you should follow varies depending on the laptop model, and whether it is a Windows or Mac Device.
Additionally, check if the laptop has independent location-reporting software, then hide it. The owner may hide it from the application list or even protect it with a password.
2. Disable the Anti-Theft Feature
Go into BIOS, find the anti-theft feature, and disable it to keep anyone from monitoring the stolen laptop. Use a motherboard jumper if the BIOS is protected with a password or pull out the main and BIOS batteries and leave it for 30 minutes before putting them back.
3. Use a Strong Password
A strong password offers an easy way to prevent programmers from observing a stolen laptop. Set a secret phrase or word to safeguard a stolen laptop against an online hack initiated to trace the device.
Never base your passwords on your personal information, and don’t share them with anyone else. Moreover, ensure it has a minimum of 20 characters with symbols, numbers, and letters (capital and small).
4. Encrypt the Keystrokes
Keystroke encryption shields you from key rats/lumberjacks, hackers, service providers, and security officers. Services like Key Scrambler help you scramble keystrokes to ensure no one can easily guess your personal information and trace you.
5. Use a Bolted Screen Saver
A bolted screen saver is a free program you can easily download that replaces the standard screensaver of your laptop with an encrypted, random image. It will help you protect your personal information if your laptop is stolen and prevent the thief from using your computer to commit a crime.
6. Install a New Operating System
A new operating system makes a stolen laptop untraceable because it will erase any installed software, including tracking software, and let you start fresh without needing login credentials. It will also stop the GPS tracking
Boot from every removable media in the laptop using an OS installer, erase every partition, then run a clean, new operating system (OS) install.
7. Replace the Hard Disk
Removing the stolen laptop’s hard disk or SSD can address many problems, including being traced. Therefore, buy a new SSD or HDD, then carefully insert it into the laptop, and don’t forget to factory reset or format the laptop.
8. Avoid Microsoft and Google Services
Avoid Microsoft and Google services if you go online with a stolen laptop because they can be used to trace your location. Google knows your location nearly all the time because they build user internet profiles.
Microsoft also has a system that lets government employees get your information.
9. Use Proxies and VPNs
If possible, don’t connect a stolen laptop to the internet because it offers the easiest ways for it to be traced. However, if you go online, whether to simply surf the internet or even access the dark web, use proxies to stay hidden and don’t use public WiFi.
It would be best to hide the laptop’s IP using a VPN. However, remember VPNs aren’t 100% untraceable, especially the free VPNs, because the developers usually log into them, storing your information. Consider investing in a premium VPN service like NordVPN, Express VPN, and Surf Shark VPN.
10. Shift from A MAC Laptop to Windows
MAC laptops are easily traceable and cannot be deemed untraceable entirely because all their data is linked to the cloud. Therefore, don’t get a stolen MAC laptop from an unauthorized retailer or the black market.
However, if you already have one, switch the MAC to Windows.
Conclusion
In possession of a stolen laptop, staying disconnected from the internet to avoid being tracked is a no-brainer. Nonetheless, the above strategies for making a stolen laptop untraceable have been proven effective. Furthermore, it’s easier to render a Windows laptop untraceable than a MAC.