Need help

[hjm357]

2 months ago my laptop was stolen. On it, I had AOL Instant Messenger which was set to automatically log on when connected to the internet. I deliberately did not change the password for AIM when I replaced the computer. Today I was kicked offline by someone using my old computer.

I want to know if there is anyway to trace the IP of that user and if I could use that to help figure out where they are.

I plan on speaking with the cops about this, but they didnt seem to computer literate and if i am able to kick-start anything I might have a chance of recovering it.

I briefly talked with the person on my computer and attempted to open a direct connection with them. I ran netstat to see what connections I had open. There were 3 open connection on port 5190 which is what AIM uses. there was also a connection labeled "TIME_WAIT" that was 216.34.209.13:http. could this be the direct connection I was attempting to open over AIM?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[greEd]

Was the direct connection successful? What OS was running on the laptop at the time it was stolen? Do you live in California?

Tracking down exactly where yor laptop is now will be hard but it can be done as long as the system hasn't been wiped clean. Who was your service provider?

There are alot of questions you need to ask yourself about your old system and try to answer, then you need to ask your ISP to flag your account. They can send you a detailed report of all logins occuring to your account. Did you have any "one click" setting that would allow you to login to your account if you were on dialup?

Try and remember and post as much info as you can.

Sorry about your loss on the laptop ... did you have any sensitive information on it? :(

[Croc]

http://www.scmagazine.com/scmagazine/2003_05/feature_7/index.html has an article about tracking down stolen laptops and they talk of a program called "zTrace" but it's too late for that now but maybe not for your new one.

Push the police a bit harder and find out if there is a unit that deals with this type of crime.

Croc.