Police are often quite clueless WRT technology, but not always. MAKE | How Tracking Down My Stolen Computer Triggered a Drug Bust
Sigh, Correlation does not necessarily equal causation.Illicit Drugs and Crime: Policy Reports: The Independent Institute

Except when it does:
Wachovia Paid Trivial Fine for Nearly $400 Billion of Drug Related Money Laundering « naked capitalism
HSBC Executive Resigns at Senate Money-Laundering Hearing - Businessweek
Global banks are the financial services wing of the drug cartels | World news | The Observer

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Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Plian and simple it is time to tighten up your properties security in some serious fashion. These kind of episodes hurt too much. I suspect they might even return again for more.

Even a really loud external audio alarm horn at the time of intrusion with a lot of lights going on at the same time is better than nothing. Video monitoring and motion detectors are fairly cheap now as well. It has always bothered me that you can work for years to aquire equipment etc and see it gone in one break in. Even worse is destructive vandlisim as there is no sane reason for it.

That's a paid for and installed service. Doesn't do you a bit of good unless it's installed on your machine at the time it's taken.

While it might be theoretically possible to track down a single machine on the interwebs, it's effectively not possible as no law enforcement agency in it's right mind is going to bother to do it. The man-hours would far exceed the value of the stolen property, and no local LE org. is going to have geeks that good in it's employ. That's Black Hat stuff.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

You may be right about the difficulty getting the cops to investigate, however, just for clarification, when someone logs on to a web page, their IP address is typically recorded by both the ISP and the web site. No other information including the computer’s so called MAC address will make it past the home router.

If after being stolen the computer logs into a web site and account used by the owner (such as Facebook or this site), then the source IP address can be used to trace back to where ever the source ip originates. This works best when the computer is set to automatically log into a web site.

In addition, programs that regularly and automatically update, such as anti-virus software, can serve the same purpose of proving a means of tracking the computer’s IP address.

The point being, CLK man, if you have places you regularly log into with a specific computer, ask the site owners to see if your account has been accessed recently. You may need a subpoena to get this information, which aren’t too expensive. Up to you to decide if it’s worth the effort.

Sorry for your loss!

I'll bet that the upside of this unfortunate situation is that more than a few members here will be backing up to a flash drive, burning a few CD or DVDs or investigating cloud based services.

Sorry to hear about this clk, good luck bud! Hope it pans out okay in the long run.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Dropbox

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Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Jeez, Robert. You can't catch a break. Sorry to hear that.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Heck, we're still Unix-based and backup toTAPE (!) every night.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Tape is still used for archiving quite a bit. But, only where very high capacity is needed. There is no good reason to use tape for an auto parts business or shop.

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Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Typically companies store their employee eligibility information via tapes and send those into their insurers and financial benefits companies. Its not just capacity but also security of having the physical record

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Did the other businesses have computers targeted too? If there is a large flea market nearby, it might be worth walking around.

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Greg Schwall

1983 300SD - 465,000 miles

There is... I plan to be there on Saturday AM

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Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

I've been talking to the software vendors and they are telling me that i have to upgrade to current software. Hopefully the insurance will cover everything. I have several friends wanting to send me their old Macs. Thanks BobK. As far as the alarm system goes, I plan to follow a posters advice. I plan to put a large bull horn along with a strobe light on the roof with some kind of door and window sensors. Any advice would be appreciated.

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

A nice puppy who will call the shop home?

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)