Repair manual

¾ Thieves steal according to opportunity, and even if they are aware that a laptop might be
protected by a password, they will likely steal it anyway. If they can't break the password, they
can just throw it away, as it did not cost them anything, and has no investment value to them.
 It also does not increase the likelihood of catching thieves, or the return of a stolen laptop
because:
¾ Stolen laptops are often stolen along with other belongings which could likely include the
original owner's identity and/or paperwork regarding the laptop.
¾ A thief who finds that the laptop they have stolen is protected by a password will not feel
remorseful at this barrier, and seek out the legitimate owner so that they can return it.
¾ If a thief should call Dell and be unable to provide ownership information and the technician
logs their caller ID, and reports it to the authorities:
 This is hardly grounds for a search warrant.
 By the time any action might be taken by police; the thief will likely have given up on the
laptop and gotten rid of it, or passed it along to someone else. There will be no evidence,
and no returned laptop.
¾ If authorities confiscate a laptop which they believe is stolen:
 They may or may not be aware of their ability to find the owner through Dell.
 The owner may never have registered.
 They may not initially be believed by Dell tech support and decide not to press the matter.
 It also does not prevent the data on the laptop from being accessed because:
¾ Anyone who has the laptop in their possession can remove the hard drive in about 10
seconds, put it in another laptop or computer (or copy it to another hard drive) and access it.
¾ These laptops, to my best knowledge, come equipped with the ability to enable a Hard Drive
password. This is what hard drive passwords are for! If the hard drive password is
enabled, regardless of its circumventability, a second password will not make the data super
secure. If one password can be thwarted, then 2 can be as well.
So we are left with the stark realization that Dell's password security scheme is nothing more than a
selling point. Something that will cause someone to buy one of their laptops, instead of another brand,
because of a perceived safeguard - which is in reality, nothing more than ineffectual hype.
The purpose of this site is to show you how, if need arises, you can negotiate past this purportedly
intricate and nearly foolproof security measure using nothing more than the devices in this picture:
1. The laptop
2. A small screwdriver
3. A paperclip
The following pages will show you how this can be done; in a step by step breakdown, with
photographs of the actual process. At no charge to you.