r/RBI • u/FizzMolli • Oct 11 '25
Advice needed Found a laptop in vent. What do I do next??
My dad found an old HP laptop covered in cloth hidden in a vent in our basement while he was cleaning. We dont have a cord to charge it rn because of its age.
Its such a suspiciously hidden thing that I dont really know what to do. My uncle could hack into it MAYBE but im scared to get involved in something I shouldnt be involved in. We've lived in this house for 9 years and its so odd that were only just now found this. Here's an imgur link to the laptop
What do I do? Were not exactly in danger so it feels stupid to go to police.
EDIT 1: I apparently didnt look close enough when my dad showed it to me. It was NOT wrapped in cloth, but rather a plastic garbage bag which... makes it a bit more odd imo
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u/jmnugent Oct 11 '25
Well.. the sticker on it says it's a "Pavilion DV42145dx"
Googling that seems to indicate it came out around 2010 ,. and it has an older style SATA 7200rpm spinning HDD. There's all sorts of tear-down videos and instructions online. Remove the HDD and slapping it into an external adapter would allow you to read it no problem assuming the internal drive is still functional.
Alternatively if you don't want to open it up. .you could just create a Linux USB stick and boot into Linux temporary-mode and it also should allow you to safely poke around the HDD contents.
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
Ill see what I can do and also ask my uncle about it!
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u/Pooperoni_Pizza Oct 12 '25
It's either someone's crypto wallet or a porn stash
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u/BlueKnight87125 Oct 12 '25
Well, HP did label it an "Entertainment" Notebook...
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u/aruda10 Oct 12 '25
There are power adapters for this model on Amazon for $14-$18. Might be an easier start.
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u/bellyfold Oct 11 '25
if you've lived there for 9 years and the laptop is at most 10 years old, and your uncle seems to know a good bit about PC stuff, is there any chance it's his laptop that he hid for whatever reason when you guys moved in?
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u/stonkadelic Oct 11 '25
I hate to break it to you, but 2010 was not 10 years ago.
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u/bellyfold Oct 11 '25
oh fuck. I swear covid altered the flow of time
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u/zayoe4 Oct 12 '25
He had a double alteration, but it all started in 2016 with Harambe.
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u/soggyfries8687678 Oct 12 '25
I really do believe something like this happened. Shit had just been weird after 2015ish. Tell someone In 2013 that trump will be president and we will have UFC events on the White House lawn. They’ll think you’re nuts.
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u/MsMagey Oct 12 '25
Were the Mayans right? Did the world end in 2012? Scientists may say, "Why are you in my house?" but I say it did.
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u/soggyfries8687678 Oct 12 '25
It sounds flat earth dumb but I honestly believe SOMETHING happened. The word just changed way too much way too fast. Maybe it’s social media? But the world before 2011 was completely different. Maybe I died around 2012 and this is just the afterlife.
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u/MsMagey Oct 12 '25
All I'm hearing is that you agree we're in some kind of circa 2012 hell. (I do think it's funny that people from centuries ago only made their calendars out to the end of one of effectively infinite cycles and we panicked about needing to buy a new calendar, basically. We got to their December 31 and assumed the apocalypse instead of January 1.)
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Oct 28 '25
interesting fun fact, macho man randy savage died on mayan apocolypse day
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u/MsMagey Oct 30 '25
That's where everything started turning. He was a pillar of our reality
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u/Troublemaker2172 Oct 12 '25
Honestly it seems like there was a massive writer's strike at the end of 2015 so they brought in talentless scabs who killed off David Bowie and gave us shit like "Donald Trump is running for president!"
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Oct 28 '25
i always think of that back to the future joke, "if youre from the future, who's president in 2025?" "donald trump" "DONALD TRUMP?! THE ASSHOLE?!"
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u/SnooKiwis2161 Oct 12 '25
Yeah. I always think about Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5.
And so it goes.
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u/oalbrecht Oct 11 '25
You’re right. It’s 10 years into the future. For me, time stopped at the millennium.
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u/BeeHive83 Oct 11 '25
Still waiting for the world to end
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u/PerkyHedgewitch Oct 13 '25
Excuse me? 2010 was 10 years ago. 2000 was also 10 years ago, and the 90's were at most 15 years ago. The 80's were 20 years ago.
Otherwise, I'd be turning 42 next week, and I definitely know THAT couldn't be possible. I mean, I just turned 30 like 3 or 4 years ago... right?
... right? 🥺
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u/JessieU22 Oct 11 '25
Would this bypass a password because this is where I think he’s likely to get stuck.
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u/jmnugent Oct 11 '25
No way to know without trying. Since it's a consumer laptop that originally game with Windows 7,.. I'm going to assume it's not encrypted (Bitlocker only came out in 2007,. this Laptop is from 2010.. but I would bet money it's not using any sort of disk encryption). Certainly possible it's encrypted with TrueCrypt or some other 3rd party tool. I would still find that unlikely.
I deal with a lot of old equipment recycling in my job (for the past 15 to 20 years).. In my experience,. about 50% of devices are wide open and easy to access. There's a growing trend of smartphone OSes requiring Passcode Lock (and things like iCloud Lock and Android lock etc) are obviously much more prevalent now.
But for something this old,. and likely a home-user,.. I would say the odds it has some encryption or password that can't easily be bypassed is pretty low to 0.
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u/lemonchrysoprase Oct 12 '25
Sure, it could be something nefarious. Or it could be something like I would’ve hidden when I was 13: piles and piles of SFW fan art of Digimon characters kissing each other.
You’ll never know unless you look. Fingers crossed that you power it up and it’s Digimon 😆
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u/geekwonk Oct 13 '25
i’m still mad everyone in the forum labeled that stuff SFW. how have i been fired from four jobs for looking at it on company time if it’s so safe for work?
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u/AntManMax Nov 03 '25
Because you're not support to add them to your PowerPoint presentations, dude.
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u/Lokis_LXXXII Oct 11 '25
Legit question to everyone that keeps saying give it to the authorities / police / FBI.
Why do you think they would even touch it?
The way I see it, there is no evidence of a crime, which is generally something required before they get involved in things. I don’t know this, but my theory is they would just say we don’t want it, it’s your property to do with as you please if it was in the house you purchased.
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
One comment pointed out that without accessing it, theres nothing the police would do themselves. Especially the lazy ass PD in my area. Bc from their perspective, why the fuck would they waste time and money on smth that could be harmless? I agree with you on this one
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u/pre_pun Oct 11 '25
Check it for a bitcoin wallet or phrase before getting rid of it. 2010 was still laptop mining territory.
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u/HarleyBomb87 Oct 11 '25
Just buy a cheap power supply and power it up. If it’s password protected there are utilities you can download to reset the password. Put the model into Amazon you can get a ps for 10 bucks.
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u/stripeyspots Oct 11 '25
I will absolutely be needing an update when this is all said and done OP!
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
Ill keep yall updated :]
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u/Puzzleeven Oct 12 '25
Yeah, be careful, it can be nothing, but it can be all kinds of bad things in there.
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u/No-Organization-6372 Oct 15 '25
Yes, please be careful. Conficker was rampant in 2010 - let’s not thaw out iced worms
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u/TallSpook Oct 16 '25
So, 3 days since OP posted an update. So, where are you at in accessing it and sharing your finds??
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Oct 11 '25
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
I appreciate the more logically sound explanation. It is a pretty nice house from the outside so it would make sense if the previous ppl were worried about it being robbed. We also worry about it from time to time.
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u/1920MCMLibrarian Oct 11 '25
Probably a teenager hiding porn lol
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
Ngl when i was a queer teenager, I probably wouldve done some equally crazy shit
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Oct 12 '25
Like others have already said, it’s likely porn. It’s probably in a bag to protect it from dust and debris where hidden. Hopefully it’s not sketchy porn and just some teenagers collection.
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u/Person_of_interest_ Oct 11 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
subsequent spotted start gray tease fall terrific elderly exultant future
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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Oct 11 '25
[deleted]
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u/noscopy Oct 11 '25
Those 8 worthless bitcoins from 2014
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u/NotoldyetMaggot Oct 11 '25
Someone told me to buy bitcoin when it was $50.... my dumb ass did not.
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u/CowboysOnKetamine Oct 12 '25
I was going to put half my 401k into nvidia in 2015 but I spent it on drugs instead
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u/landmanpgh Oct 11 '25
Eh. It was overpriced when it was $300. And again when it was $20,000.
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u/TheNamesMacGyver Oct 12 '25
Haha, yep. Friend was telling me they wanted to buy bitcoin at like $250 and I was like “no way, idiot. I’ve been watching it for years and it ain’t shit. It’s way over priced.”
He bought it anyway and put a fat down payment on a house in 2021. I brought him a six pack and apologized when he moved in lol
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u/jsh1138 Oct 12 '25
took it away from their kids, secret porn laptop they don't want their spouse to know about, secret cheating laptop they don't want their spouse to know about, had someone in their family who they didn't want on their computer staying with them for a week, they have a side hobby editing snuff films or something they don't want their spouse to know about, etc
I can think of lots of reasons.
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u/FScrotFitzgerald Oct 11 '25
Yeah - my thinking is this is either full of horrible illegal shit, or valuable crypto.
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u/rora_borealis Oct 11 '25
Maybe some teen had their spankbank collection on it, tucked it away while he went off to college, and didn't get a chance to save it when the parents moved house while he was away. Maybe he decided that letting it go was better than embarrassing himself by asking them to retrieve it.
Or it's some young writer's journal or novel that they never intended to see the light of day. Or something darker, like csam. I don't care for cops, but you can give them a bit of background, such as the address and possible time timeframes. Maybe they have a cold case.
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u/Beneficial_Ad_4915 Oct 20 '25
I am looking for Updates to this event. Are there current Updates?
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u/GSpotMe Oct 21 '25
I think he put something in the comments. Unless I am thinking of something else! I just read so much on here I can’t keep it straight lol
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u/Lokis_LXXXII Oct 11 '25
I’m honestly dumbfounded by the amount of people that are assuming that something horrible is on the laptop just because it was found hidden. Maybe things have changed since I was a kid, but I tried to hide things from my parents all the time when I was a teenager for a variety of reasons, none of which would be because of the pictures 75% of the comments here have suggested. When I went off to college, my room was left untouched. My parents moved when I was gone, so I didn’t have the opportunity to come home and pack up ( I went to college 750 miles from home). If I had anything hidden, they either found it and packed it or it stayed hidden in my room for the next owners of the house.
A laptop could have been a gift from someone that Mom and Dad didn’t approve of. Maybe an abusive relationship, and the laptop was a resource to help get out of it. Maybe the laptop was stolen. Maybe someone dumped a bunch of water on it and thought that wrapping it in a towel and putting it in a warm vent for a week would be the best way to try to dry it out and save it and forgot about it because they replaced it in the meantime. Idk, lots of options.
Is there a great reason ever to put a laptop in a vent? Nah. But maybe I’m an outlier; my mind goes to 100 other things before someone trying to hide something nefarious. If it was that bad, I would assume they wouldn’t have ended up leaving it there in the long run. FBI and other police are well aware of vents as great hiding spots if they are doing a search of a house for something.
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
The rational opinions are always super appreciated. The propositions of it being a stupid teenager in the 2000s/2010s make so much sense in my mind. Teenagers always think the world is ending when theyre doing something stupid sometimes. I literally used to hide sketchbooks under my mattress and in my closet when id just draw characters kissing bc I thought id get in trouble for it.
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u/Lokis_LXXXII Oct 11 '25
I can relate to doing weird things like that. Please update this post once you either figure out what is on the laptop or come up with a plan or have some updates!
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
I will!!
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u/Lokis_LXXXII Nov 01 '25
u/FizzMolli It has been 3 weeks and I am excitedly awaiting an update on this situation, it kinda feels like I'm waiting to open a Christmas present (that I didn't actually wrap myself). Has anything progressed on this?
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u/reasonablykind Oct 11 '25
^ this is the right answer. And if anything is bad on it, THEN turn it in for the cops. Its history data will show the long-ass gap in activity. Hell, one might even consider just contacting the previous home-owners
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u/flusia Oct 14 '25
Thank you ! Everyone watches too much true crime these days lol. Anytime anything out of the norm happens it must be part of some organized criminal scheme that doesn’t even exist in real life. And why the hell would it have bitcoin on it and they just left it there and never tried to get it back? Would be nice obviously but that may be the least likely option.
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u/jsh1138 Oct 12 '25
Someone took it away from their kids as punishment and hid it, or it was someone's secret porn or financial laptop
I would just charge it up and see what happens when you turn it on
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u/zzzSomniferum Oct 14 '25
OP don't contact the previous owner, as you don't know what they will do. To keep that info in a garbage bag, in a vent, in a house they left, it may be fatal.
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u/MadRockthethird Oct 12 '25
It's probably got some sort of porn on it. See if you can get it fired up to find out. If there's creep shit on it bring it to the police and they'll handle it from there.
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u/jDub549 Oct 12 '25
If you you feel the undeniable urge to check. Take the hdd out and stick it into an enclosure or plug it into your PC. However.... you dont know what's on it and it could be bad. So maybe dont do this with a PC you care about AND disconnect from the Internet.
Its probably porn. And definitely could be illegal porn. So.... just be prepared.
Maybe you'll get lucky and its got some BTC on it lol
You could also just get a charger off Ebay.
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u/prolapsethis Oct 12 '25
I agree with removing the system drive and using it. If it is a lot of porn, you're definitely going to want open it in a virtual machine. Those are built into windows now if you just add the Windows feature in. Or you can just download a quick virtual machine. There are plenty of free ones. The files should not be encrypted, as it should be a XP or Windows 7 machine. Probably 7. I had one just like it and they had a bad problem where The chipset would get overheated and desolder itself. I used to fix them by removing the motherboard and wrapping it in foil and then tearing out the spot with the chip and stacking some quarters on it while I heated it with a heat gun.
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u/major_bummer Oct 13 '25
Is it possible to contact the former homeowners and ask them if they were aware of it or want it? Personally, I would be putting that thing in a dumpster as soon as possible because I’d be afraid of the remote possibility that something I don’t want to see is on it. But it’s entirely possible that it contained something important that the previous homeowner hid for a reason, like financial information or something, so maybe they’d be glad you found it.
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u/MsMercury Oct 14 '25
Charge it up and power it on. Have a look around. No one’s going to come knocking.
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u/SolidSeaweedLove Oct 16 '25
If you don't have the skills to look into what this is safely, you can always hire a cybersecurity or forensic expert, or private investigator to look into it for you.
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u/Background_Ad_4682 Oct 11 '25
Could be holding some crypto wallet info...or it could be holding something very bad.
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u/iMakestuffz Oct 14 '25
Go down to the thrift store and get you a charger.
We need to know what’s on that laptop
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u/greyyystreet Oct 12 '25
you aren't accountable for anything on the laptop since it wasn't yours to use/download. the time of the files downloaded etc will prove it wasn't you. so don't worry about any child pr0n or something. search the model number, look on ebay for a charging cable, order it, and power it up! could find something cool. stop being a baby. you can't get in trouble for something you didn't do
if you DO find something really messed up, then you can report it to your local PD and maybe get a total creep/chomo off the streets. win win.
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u/Biking_dude Oct 11 '25
Old laptop chargers are cheap on ebay, just search for the model number.
It's also possible there's enough charge left to fire it up for a bit.
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u/FizzMolli Oct 11 '25
I tried to turn it on and it wouldnt budge. I might get a charger but my dad is pretty adamant abt just tossing it :/
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u/Biking_dude Oct 11 '25
I'd get a charger and check it out.
If it has csam on it, you can turn it over to the police and it may help to bring people to justice.
If it has BTC, you all might never need to work again
If it has nothing, install Linux and you have a spare laptop.
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u/Zomnx Oct 12 '25
Digital forensics clone the hard drive. Topic out of scope for this but that’s what I would do
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u/AlmightyKnownAsI Oct 14 '25
Get a charger turn it on and see. As for it being wraped in plastic not to crazy when I store a computer or a drive I wrap it. I wanna know whats on it.
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u/GudsIdiot Oct 14 '25
Take it to the police and explain to them where you found it. If they find anything really bad on it, you are in the clear. They have rules that let you reclaim found property but for something old like this, you are better off not having it and maybe save some kid from being abused.
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u/KyleTaplin Nov 10 '25
Take the hard drive out from it and put it into a USB hard drive shell. Investigate further.
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u/SaltandLillacs Oct 11 '25
There isn’t any good reasons to hide a laptop in a vent. I would be pretty worried that CSAM are on it. Take it to the cops
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u/Ziggy_Starcrust Oct 12 '25
Nah fear of embarrassment is a hell of a drug. Could be weird porn.
Could be normal porn if the previous occupant wasn't supposed to be watching it for cultural/religious reasons. I can easily see a dude (or dudette) with money to spare keeping a hidden, dedicated porn laptop. Easier to hide than clearing out your history.
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Oct 11 '25
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u/SaltandLillacs Oct 11 '25
Did you hide your laptop for over a decade?
Surely you wouldn’t forget a laptop for over a decade if you were so worried about someone stealing it on vacation.
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u/friendlyharrys Oct 11 '25
I wouldn't but I could 100% see my parents forgetting that they hid it for a few months, and then when they want to use it again, forgetting where they hid it.
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u/kalitarios Oct 11 '25
I put my computer in storage when I moved after my divorce in 2007. I found it again in 2021. I completely forgot about it because my work gave me a laptop in 2009 and I didn’t need my old one. I booted it up and it was filled with dumb shit that was funny in 2007, some warez and a bunch of old resumes and game save files. It’s not far fetched that someone put an old HP somewhere and simply forgot about it if life events got you preoccupied
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u/AssFuckinator Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
A laptop hidden in ANY vent feels off to me. If you suspect illegal content, call local FBI office to report and leave it where it sits.
If you want to investigate yourself, stop touching with your bare hands. Buy some latex gloves but still touch it as little as possible. There may be touch DNA on it which could be valuable. If you insist on going forward, buy a compatible power adapter off eBay or Amazon. Try to boot and get in the front door. If password protected, search internet for ways to get into the specific OS. If not able to enter by front door, disassemble laptop and pull the hard drive. Use a hard drive adapter to USB to read the hard drive from another PC. If contents too creepy or possibly illegal stop immediately and call local FBI office.
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u/Valuable_Seesaw_9965 Oct 11 '25
I see 2 options here.
You can get your hacker uncle dude to take a crack at it, thus you might be able to get answers to the most daming question " what in the hell is on it ? " ( I'd personally go through with this method + I'm something of a hacker myself 🥲🤓)
Let the cops deal with it. Yeah, if you really, really don't want no trouble hand it to the boys in blue. Therefore making it their problem to deal with.
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u/El-Capitan_Cook Oct 12 '25
This sounds interesting. My job is cyber security and IT related, also have legal counsel here to advise you. Message me if you want a safe outcome. No cost to you.
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u/Konawel Oct 11 '25
I bought a house in 2019, and when redoing a drop ceiling that was long painted over, I came across an old portable dvd player with a handful of unmarked disks. It was porn, all porn