[titular]

A few days ago, a friend came to me saying he had bought a laptop (a nice one) from a pawn shop and when he had arrived home, found that it was loaded with all sorts of software from a local school district. He is afraid to run anything on the machine, given they may be able to use a program they have installed to monitor activity.

There are a multitude of programs installed on the computer ranging from security features to basic educational applications.

It is a nice computer and I would hate to see him have his money wasted. Is there a way to wipe this computer and boot it with a fresh OS such as Kali? Or could have the school district blocked this ability on the computer itself? Will I have to get crafty? (lol) Any input is welcome. If you think this thread would do better in a different area of the forum, please let me know.

Sincerely,
titular

[Angela White]

Literally all you have to do is re-install Windows on it, or if you’re really paranoid, just buy a new hard drive and swap them out & install a fresh install of windows

[Adeluxe]

do hard factory reset‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏or something and that should do it

[titular]

Literally all you have to do is re-install Windows on it, or if you’re really paranoid, just buy a new hard drive and swap them out & install a fresh install of windows

I will have to check if they were able to block access to the boot menu when its starting. Is this even possible to prohibit a function like that?

[Angela White]

I will have to check if they were able to block access to the boot menu when its starting. Is this even possible to prohibit a function like that?

A public school isn’t going to block access to the BIOS, they’re using a bunch of cheap shitty monitoring software that they bought back in 2006 or some shit. You can literally just reinstall Windows and you’ll be good as new

[guardian]

When I read this the Defcon talk Pwned By The Owner: What Happens When You Steal A Hacker's Computer came to my mind. Although a school will not try that hard to track you down, it is still worth watching and might give you a better understanding of how you could be tracked.

[Pat13nt_Zer0]

A pawn shop would have done a factory reset before selling it and if its a teacher issued laptop you may need permissions to access BIOS, ect.....

[titular]

A public school isn’t going to block access to the BIOS, they’re using a bunch of cheap shitty monitoring software that they bought back in 2006 or some shit. You can literally just reinstall Windows and you’ll be good as new

Thats the catch! They are a very well-funded school district with excellent hardware and network security. Ill keep you updated on what happens.

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When I read this the Defcon talk Pwned By The Owner: What Happens When You Steal A Hacker's Computer came to my mind. Although a school will not try that hard to track you down, it is still worth watching and might give you a better understanding of how you could be tracked.

Excellent insight. Thank you for your 2 cents.

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A pawn shop would have done a factory reset before selling it and if its a teacher issued laptop you may need permissions to access BIOS, ect.....

This is exactly what I was thinking. I will tinker with it and let you know my results.

[Pat13nt_Zer0]

Is there any sort of program, security feature, or UI that seems either generic or different? Like something that would be put on a laptop from an administrator. Ironically I was in a similar situation, the laptop I "acquired" from a school had something of this sort and after messing with it for a cpl days it bricked itself when I finally tried messing with admin shit and attempted full reset.

[titular]

Is there any sort of program, security feature, or UI that seems either generic or different? Like something that would be put on a laptop from an administrator.  Ironically I was in a similar situation, the laptop I "acquired" from a school had something of this sort and after messing with it for a cpl days it bricked itself when I finally tried messing with admin shit and attempted full reset.

Very interesting. I will certainly write you if I find something similar. Thanks.

[webdev77]

HF does not support criminal activity. Return the laptop.