My laptop was stolen. What do I do now?

Hi, all. I hope this is the right location for a thread like this.

So my laptop was stolen yesterday and now I'm wondering what steps to take to avoid identity theft issues, to potentially recover the computer, and in the event that I hopefully recover it and all my files are still there, what should I do as far as using the computer again. Unfortunately, I do not have an external HD at this time, so I didn't make any back-ups. I know, very stupid. I used the computer mainly for music and web browsing, and I had about 70 gb's worth of tunes on it, as well as some pictures. I was always careful to delete my browsing history and cookies and whatever else. I had Firefox set to delete all by default after every session. I used CCleaner regularly as well. I plan on changing my passwords to iTunes, my bank account and email just as a precaution.

So far I've contacted police and they've written up a report, and I've also contacted the PC manufacturer and reported it stolen. I called Comcast but they couldn't do anything as far as tracking an IP or mac address. It was a shot in the dark but I tried. Next I plan on going to the pawn shop down the street as well as any others near-by and seeing if theres anything there.

Has anyone had any experience with the Lojack for Laptops software? Did it work or not?

Any other suggestions for now and for the future are much appreciated. Thanks for any and all replies.

-BCEE

 

I hope you had a password for your profile.

 

If by password for my profile you mean did I have a password on my computer that you needed to log into the desktop, then yes I did. I figured that would be easily hacked/bypassed so I forgot to mention that I did. It was running Windows Vista Home Premium, btw. So what level of protection does this really give me here?

 

Good news. IIRC Vista disabled the safe mode password bypass that was in Windows XP.

 

First, i'm sorry to hear that.
I suggest to use social approach than than digital security issues.

Maybe write to newsletter about please comeback my laptop/hardisk because inside is history of life not material ones, and write about to give anything for compensation to the thief. I hope it's works better than Lojack.