AutoHotkey Community

[Dra_Gon]

A friend of mine just got a laptop and I had an idea for it, but not sure exactly how to go about this.
What I'd like to do is set up a small program {using the a_ipaddress1} so that every time she logged on, it would start looking for a particular website {obviously only seeing it when the laptop went online} and send the ip address to that, where she would be able to log on from another computer and have that ip address available.
I think I can get most of the code down, but I don't know: 1) what website she would be able to use for something like that, obviously somewhere she would need to log on to view the info so not just anyone could get to it; 2) how to have the program send the info to that website without a thief discovering that her laptop sent it; & 3) how, if possible, to set it up so the program remains and runs if the thief reinstalls the OS.
I doubt #3 is even possible {I'd say the only way around that is if she didn't use a password on her laptop, but that's not a good idea}, but if it is, I'd like to work that in too. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about this, please let me know.
Thanks in advance.

Dra'Gon
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[ahklerner]

you need to set a password in the bios. That is persistent even if the operating system is reinstalled.

Www.whatismyip.com is a good site to get the current ip of your PC.
use urldownloadtofile and fileread to get the current ip address
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[DerRaphael]

newer lenovo laptops (aka ibm) like the one from my girlfriend have fingertip sensors and save biometric information on chip hardware to autheticate the user at boot time. the harddisk is password protected and access is only granted by the fingerprint scanning procedure.

so when this laptop is stolen, neither the hardware can be used - the tpm (i think thats the chips name) blocks everything, nor the data can be accessed - the harddisk is useless in a different computer and cannot be formated due to the ata password protection. the only usable thing is the ram and thats not worth too much nowadays.

to set up a software, that looks up a site from internet at boot time, might be possible when having a mini-operating system (linux is quite predestinated for such task) which will be accessed at boottime from efi. but since the efi is not standard and even windows doesn't support this correctly (afaik even vista doesnt) chances are small that this happens in closer future. the intel mac is using it, btw

however due to the modular nature of efi it might be possible to set up a module doing such a task such as remote logging of ip.

staying in windows world, probably using a service such as dyndns.org is a solution for you. when setting up a dynamic address such as mylaptop.ath.cx or something like that it can be checked 'from the other side' - but using such a system makes it mandatory to use a real good firewall. and when the laptop is behind a NAT-router it wont be accessible unless the router is set up properly.

for storing a bit of information u might be interested in using a service as freehostia. there you can even set up a free (no ads) mysql db with php if you want to. its not a good idea to host sites there since their service relies on cpu-time you get. the cpu-time depends on how many traffic the site has had. storing an ip on an external site ... all you'd need is a simple ftp script to uploiad gathered ip. i remeber a script demonstrating how to obtain 'external' ip address in scripts & function section.

hope this helps
greets
derRaphael
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[edburdo]

The downside to using something like AHK for this, is that scripts can easily be bypassed. If the user boots the PC up offline, or boots it into safe more, or installs a new OS, then your security measure is bypassed.
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[ManaUser]

Not a bad idea, though #3 definitely won't be possible with AutoHotkey. Basically you'll just have to hope they connect to the internet at least once before they make any changes that would would disable your little safety measure. Still any chance of getting your laptop back is better than none.

For what kind of website, I'm thinking an FTP server might be more appropriate. I did a quick search for FTP free servers, and there seem to be a few, but you'll have to investigate further if you want to go that route. You may also need a command line FTP program (the Windows built-in one isn't versatile). Moveit Freely look pretty good, though I haven't tried it myself.

[[VxE]]

My laptop is chained to a dark-gray schnauzer by the name of "Gibbs".
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[Dra_Gon]

Thanks for the replies!
I've used the bios password before {and I will let her know to do that if she hasn't already}, but it's too easy to clear out for someone who actually knows what they're doing. As for bypassing the AHK program I want to make, well, I'm thinking of a bit of razzle-dazzle to hide it well enough that should keep the average thief from finding it .
I haven't even seen her laptop yet, so I don't know what all she's got on it as far as security features. I have most of the bits in mind for what I want to do, I just needed to be able to send the ip info to an internet site so she could get it and let the cops know where her laptop is. I think maybe if she has a "guest" account with no password {and NO admin permissions}, that may keep a thief from reinstalling the OS, at least long enough for my program to do it's thing a couple times {I hope}.
The ftp idea is a good one, I hadn't thought of that. The program should be able to make a little .dat file with the ip address and upload it without it being seen by the thief.
Thanks again. I'll see what I can come up with and post it.

Dra'Gon

P.S. Mind if I borrow "Gibbs" in the meantime ?
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