Ideas for tracking a PC in case it's stolen

[Connorg27]

Hello, so long story short is I have a pretty expensive high-end PC that I just built and I also have a roommate that I am currently helping out since they fell on hard times. Now, I don't ever want to accuse or assume any bad intentions, but just to be prepared, does anyone know of some software or a pc part I could install that would allow me to track it's location JUST IN CASE it were to magically go missing? 

Any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated as I'm only trying to be proactive and having the ability to find my PC's location would be beneficial anyway! Thank you

[Takumidesh]

throw an airtag or tile in it, somewhere that is not obvious.

Does your case have a Kensington lock, you could wrap that around something immovable.

You could remove expensive components when you aren't there (depending on the setup)

 

In my case, I just have homeowners insurance (or renters if you rent).

If your pc is expensive enough and you believe your roommate is thefty enough, then it can be a good option. Especially if you think they will steal a computer, that means they would likely steal other high value items that may be harder to track (like keyboards, monitors, game controllers and consoles, phones, or whatever else)

[OhioYJ]

X2 on the insurance, I know before I was a home owner, renters insurance was really pretty cheap. Ask questions, I had to up coverage levels in some categories, but still cheap peace of mind really.

[Coaxialgamer]

Putting an airtag or some other gps-tracking device in a hidden location (eg the drive bays, or behind your "back" side-panel (the one that opens up to cable management space) is one way to keep track of your PC.

On a slightly different note, the fact that you don't trust your roommate not to pawn off your expensive computer raises some serious red flags...

[Needfuldoer]

Put a keyed lock on the door to the room where you keep your stuff.

[8tg]

Make it undesirable, allude to it being unstable and overheating a lot, talk about the great deal you got buying the gpu from a cryptocurrency farm and the cpu being a somewhat functional engineering sample, old psu you got a garage sale, etc 

 

[eskamobob1]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:33 PM, OhioYJ said:

X2 on the insurance, I know before I was a home owner, renters insurance was really pretty cheap. Ask questions, I had to up coverage levels in some categories, but still cheap peace of mind really.

100% agree. I have a lot of tools, audio gear, and PC gear. all of it is explicitly emanated, recorded, and underwritten on my renters insurance that I pay less than $10/mo for to insure theft of damage of 30k+ of professional tools even before looking at the other stuff. Best part is, you can get policies that cover theft from cars/vans as well. It was a fair PITA to get everything set up because I had to catalogue lots of fairly obscure things (nice wood planes, chisels, special saw blades, hyper specific surveying devices, etc) but it was well well worth the peace of mind and has already paid for its self when I had a table saw stolen out of my van and they didnt even blink to cover it.

[ToboRobot]

Air-tag might help, but parts can be stripped out of computer and sold and there is no way to physically track a GPU or CPU.

The desk locks are simply deterrents to prevent people grabbing a laptop and bolting at a coffee shop or whatever, it's easy to use a tool to cut them if you have time and space.

Renters insurance and a lock on your door should be adequate to keep your mind off the prospects of theft, unless you live with bad room mates and you can't trust them at all at which case, you should look to move somewhere else.

[Vishera]

A GPS/4G LTE tracker with a SIM card like insurance companies use.

[wanderingfool2]

19 hours ago, 8tg said:

Make it undesirable, allude to it being unstable and overheating a lot, talk about the great deal you got buying the gpu from a cryptocurrency farm and the cpu being a somewhat functional engineering sample, old psu you got a garage sale, etc 

 

Someone willing to steal it though would likely not try selling it and being honest about how the system runs though.  Likely would see expensive looking components and would just be like, look at this price on ebay and what it's going for.

 

To the poster.  If your hope is that it would be sold in one piece, then yea like others have suggested air-tags.  It would at least give you a chance to recover it before it gets stripped apart (or you might get lucky enough to know who it was sold to and be able to figure out the person who stole it).

 

Software wise, I mean...if you had something like teamviewer installed on it (free version), then if it does get stolen you can hope that it comes online and you can remote into it and maybe turn on a webcam if there is one...or grab the IP address/write a note to whoever purchased it.  That assumes though that it's not gutted to be sold for parts.

[We Didnt_t start_the_fire]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:19 PM, Connorg27 said:

Hello, so long story short is I have a pretty expensive high-end PC that I just built and I also have a roommate that I am currently helping out since they fell on hard times. Now, I don't ever want to accuse or assume any bad intentions, but just to be prepared, does anyone know of some software or a pc part I could install that would allow me to track it's location JUST IN CASE it were to magically go missing? 

Any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated as I'm only trying to be proactive and having the ability to find my PC's location would be beneficial anyway! Thank you

I doon't think pc offer device tracking unless you custom build a sofware or tracking software and or have linux run in windows so it is easier. Unless you want to customise and contact a software security firm an dhave location log in security and feature tracking. 

 

Side note I imediately thinking this would be a perfect case for manaufacturer to have IPV6 so you can track indidual items and components to the whole system(perhaps only the drive)others mage through interface and remotely can. Though this kind of things poses privacy and once again what different level of grouping you want or you ahve to individually manage it all to different degree depending on the ease of the manafacturer and interface.

[Takumidesh]

On 1/22/2023 at 11:57 AM, ToboRobot said:

Air-tag might help, but parts can be stripped out of computer and sold and there is no way to physically track a GPU or CPU.

The desk locks are simply deterrents to prevent people grabbing a laptop and bolting at a coffee shop or whatever, it's easy to use a tool to cut them if you have time and space.

Renters insurance and a lock on your door should be adequate to keep your mind off the prospects of theft, unless you live with bad room mates and you can't trust them at all at which case, you should look to move somewhere else.

true, but an air tag showing it moving around while you were at work or something, will help a lot in small claims trial.