Quote Originally Posted by j7wild View Post
most laptops and computers nowadays have windows log on so if you don't know the password, how are you going to use it?

you can't log on to Windows, you can't do anything with it!!

With a typical install, setting a password on a computer is a little like putting a deadbolt lock on a screen door, but leaving the solid front door open. When you come home, don't be surprised to find your screen door securely locked, but with the screen cut away and your house burgled.

Unless the harddrive is encrypted, getting into (or getting data out of) a password protected system is relatively easy. And to be fair, this is true of Linux and OSX, as well as Windows. As long as someone has physical access to the computer, getting into it is fairly easy, especially for someone who does this for a "living".

And if the harddrive is encrypted, as odj_310388 suggested, just wipe the computer and reinstall the OS (most Windows laptops have the Windows sticker with the product key stuck on the bottom of the unit, so all you need is a CD). Whoever stole the laptop doesn't get the info on the laptop, but they do get a laptop.

And there is the reality that most people have really, really bad passwords which can be broken really easily. One of my former co-workers actually had the password on his work computer of "123456". This is a guy who dealt with advertising accounts as part of his job. Granted, this particular system was a desktop, not a laptop, but if it had been a laptop, I have no doubt that would have been his password as well.