Refurbished laptop - noob security question

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Hi there!

(I'm a noob, please don't throw rocks at me)

The company I'm working for is selling "old" 2014 laptop as they're modernizing their computer fleet. They're giving all profits to charity, so getting the best deal isn't really important for me. I just need a basic laptop for personal use at home.

These laptops are sold without any window license. I opened one just to look if it's working. It goes directly to the "unable to boot" screen. They let me installed Ubuntu on it to see if it would fit my needs. It work AND it fits my needs

The question is : How do I know if the company still have access to the computer? Would they be able to localize it, thus have access to my whereabout when I'm not working? The window license may be gone, but the serial number on the computer will still be the same even if it now run on Linux.

I don't know if I'm paranoid (I did watch Snowden on netflix last week...), but I want to be able to separate my working life from my personal time :)

Thanks!
 
You could probably install Windows on it, if it was at least the sandy bridge platform which may have the motherboard associated with a usable Windows license.

Try this guy if you already have Ubuntu on there, it should give you the key from hardware (which may match a COA on it)
sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | tail -1

If it activates then I'd just use it. If not (or it doesn't exist) you could probably find a key inexpensively.

With a wiped hard drive they wouldn't have access to it.
 
Last edited:
beers said:
You could probably install Windows on it, if it was at least the sandy bridge platform which may have the motherboard associated with a usable Windows license.

Try this guy if you already have Ubuntu on there, it should give you the key from hardware (which may match a COA on it)
sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | tail -1

If it activates then I'd just use it. If not (or it doesn't exist) you could probably find a key inexpensively.

With a wiped hard drive they wouldn't have access to it.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot! That helps
 
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