Help! - Security Issue. The person who has my laptop has my Windows pin.

[Bloodtech]

My windows account is on my work laptop which I no longer work at. But the people there know my "Windows Pin".
I know Windows pin is local to the machine and they can log in with it. How do I stop them from logging in?!

[Dedayog]

If you remove device from your Windows account, will the PIN stop working too?  

 

 

[Bloodtech]

I have already done that, but according to everything I have seen, the pin is local to the machine; so they can still use it. 

[Dedayog]

7 minutes ago, Bloodtech said:

I have already done that, but according to everything I have seen, the pin is local to the machine; so they can still use it. 

My thought was the PIN is associated with that Windows account, so if the account is disabled, the password and PIN for it are by default.  

 

Maybe others can chime in, but that is my thought.  I haven't verified it at all though.

 

Ugh, this doesn't sound good but it's a few years old, maybe they fixed? (They say you can't disable the PIN remotely at all):

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/remotely-disable-pin-code-windows-10/4f9ba48e-2671-4987-8662-0071d1e35b60

 

[BobVonBob]

You can't stop them from logging in to the laptop. It was your work laptop, and they definitely have a way to log in even without the PIN. If you're worried about them making account changes to your Microsoft account, they can't. Any changes to the account require entering the password, not just the PIN, which you hopefully haven't shared like you did with your PIN.

[Bloodtech]

7 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

You can't stop them from logging in to the laptop. It was your work laptop, and they definitely have a way to log in even without the PIN. If you're worried about them making account changes to your Microsoft account, they can't. Any changes to the account require entering the password, not just the PIN, which you hopefully haven't shared like you did with your PIN.

When I say work laptop - it was literally just a normal laptop that was bought from PC World, and I installed windows on it with my account.

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, Bloodtech said:

When I say work laptop - it was literally just a normal laptop that was bought from PC World, and I installed windows on it with my account.

Wait, it's the work laptop that they took back and you only have Windows on it?

 

Remove the device from your Windows account by logging into Windows on the web.  Done.

 

Thought it was a much larger issue, this is nothing.

[Bloodtech]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Wait, it's the work laptop that they took back and you only have Windows on it?

 

Remove the device from your Windows account by logging into Windows on the web.  Done.

 

Thought it was a much larger issue, this is nothing.

Yeah it was just a normal laptop and the only account on there was mine.

I have already done that. 

So even though they know the pin to my windows login, it will now no longer work?

Because everywhere else is saying they can still login in and get into windows if they have the pin? They just can't edit any settings etc. 

[Dedayog]

6 minutes ago, Bloodtech said:

Yeah it was just a normal laptop and the only account on there was mine.

I have already done that. 

So even though they know the pin to my windows login, it will now no longer work?

Because everywhere else is saying they can still login in and get into windows if they have the pin? They just can't edit any settings etc. 

Hold on.  Who does the laptop belong to?

 

You say it's a work laptop but you no longer work their.  So you had to turn it in to them, as per normal work rules?

 

If so, and they can log in using your PIN... what does it matter? Did you have personal stuff on the laptop even though you just said only Windows was on it?

 

Yes, they can log into the laptop, they can't change the Windows password at all though.  But it's their laptop, right?  

 

I'm not seeing the issue here.  Cuz if it's YOUR laptop and you left it there by accident, go get it.  Or sue them for theft.  

 

Because if there is nothing on the laptop except Windows... this is a total non-issue for security.  It just becomes an ownership of the laptop issue.

[Bloodtech]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

Hold on.  Who does the laptop belong to?

 

You say it's a work laptop but you no longer work their.  So you had to turn it in to them, as per normal work rules?

 

If so, and they can log in using your PIN... what does it matter? Did you have personal stuff on the laptop even though you just said only Windows was on it?

 

Yes, they can log into the laptop, they can't change the Windows password at all though.  But it's their laptop, right?  

 

I'm not seeing the issue here.  Cuz if it's YOUR laptop and you left it there by accident, go get it.  Or sue them for theft.  

 

 

It is their laptop. They know the pin for it which is signed into my personal windows account which has a lot of private info on it, also signed into my chrome, FB, Youtube etc.

I used it outside of work hours for personal use too. (I know, really stupid move)
I left the company and forgot to wipe the machine etc.

They logged on found a bunch of personal crap, went through my browser history (because it's all synced) and are now basically messing me over saying I broke company policy. I didn't, they have no network and did not supply me with a version of windows to log into so I said I would just use my own personal account. Pretty sure they where on my facebook and personal emails too.

So I am trying to stop them from logging in.

[Dedayog]

19 minutes ago, Bloodtech said:

It is their laptop. They know the pin for it which is signed into my personal windows account which has a lot of private info on it, also signed into my chrome, FB, Youtube etc.

I used it outside of work hours for personal use too. (I know, really stupid move)
I left the company and forgot to wipe the machine etc.

They logged on found a bunch of personal crap, went through my browser history (because it's all synced) and are now basically messing me over saying I broke company policy. I didn't, they have no network and did not supply me with a version of windows to log into so I said I would just use my own personal account. Pretty sure they where on my facebook and personal emails too.

So I am trying to stop them from logging in.

Change your email and Facebook passwords.  Any password for anything you used that machine for.

 

Most company policies forbid you to use their hardware/software for personal use, so not only is what you did stupid (we all do it, so we're all stupid too) but also you DID break company policy.

 

The best you can do is to secure all your logins and passwords and then move on.   Ignore them about company policy.

 

Also, contact a lawyer if you feel they've gone through your personal stuff, see if you have any rights in that regard.   Can';t hurt to get a consult.

[Bloodtech]

7 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Change your email and Facebook passwords.  Any password for anything you used that machine for.

 

Most company policies forbid you to use their hardware/software for personal use, so not only is what you did stupid (we all do it, so we're all stupid too) but also you DID break company policy.

 

The best you can do is to secure all your logins and passwords and then move on.   Ignore them about company policy.

 

Also, contact a lawyer if you feel they've gone through your personal stuff, see if you have any rights in that regard.   Can';t hurt to get a consult.

Yeah I thought so,

Thanks for the help anyway man.

Thought that Windows would have a feature to change the pin to windows remotely to prevent unauthorized access. But I guess not.

[ElevyNJ]

I believe you can sign the device out of Chrome remotely so they would need your  Google password to sign back into Chrome. I would sign the system out, then change your Google password