disaster!!  just back from holiday in kos, gone to unpack my laptop and its not there.  ive realised that when i shoved all me stuff in the security trays, they must have put it in a separate tray.  ive hurriedly put everything back in hand luggage and pockets the other side not realising the chromebooks gone through separately.

im hoping the airport have got it and it hasnt been swiped, cos when it opens, you can just open all my email accounts etc straight away, auto log ins.

ive changed my email passwords, bank websites dont open automatically, but as i had emails open, im pretty sure the existing emails can be read.

ill go through all my websites in the morning changing passwords, but is there anything else you can think of for me to consider?

i plan to ring my hotel and ask them to contact the airport for me.

thanks

There is a function to locate your Android devices and also wipe remotely I believe? Might be more limited for Chromebook but I think mine is on the list of devices.

Err, and ring airport directly…

Is this you posting on STW or someone else?

sadex – log in on another computer, go to https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity

click on your lost device and remove it. Login session will be closed and since all material on the chromebook is encrypted, nothing is recoverable by a baddie, and they cant log in to your device without your password, or more preferably your 2FA credentials.

Is this you posting on STW or someone else?

😀

Err, and ring airport directly…

ive already rang the hotel we stayed at and he is contacting the hotel.  best case scenario, it turns up and somehow we can get it to a jet2 rep to arrange return to uk i think.

There is a function to locate your Android devices and also wipe remotely I believe?

sadex – log in on another computer, go to <span class=”skimlinks-unlinked”>https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity</span&gt;

click on your lost device and remove it. Login session will be closed and since all material on the chromebook is encrypted, nothing is recoverable by a baddie, and they cant log in to your device without your password, or more preferably your 2FA credentials.

just tried that stoner, it takes me to a page that shows all pc’s/phones that have used my login, of which my chromebook is one.  i cant ‘remove’ it tho, theres no option for that.  following help links, it states that that option is only available on phones and tablets, and for pc’s i have to change the password instead.  i followed that link and changed it again but its only done the same as i did last night and changed my gmail password, so i assume thats the same thing?

the remote wipe is one thing i was going to ask about next.  in this day and age i wondered if itd be possible to remotely access that desktop, see the pages ive left open and close them down?  or is that a step too clever for chromebooks?

thanks a lot

EDIT:  a bit of googling and following links shows that id need the chrome remote desktop installed on both units, so looks like thats a no-no.

EDIT EDIT:  just tried the ‘locate your device’ thing and i cant see anything other than my phone as an option.  however, it does say “your lost device needs to be signed into google account or an app like gmail etc”.  ive changed my password so it wont be signed in!  i assume if i changed it back temporarily it still wont be signed in now?

bloody nightmare this, i am a donut arent i 😀

If you open Gmail on another computer, scroll to the bottom and click on the last signed in bit, it brings up an option to sign out of Google on all connected computers.

If you open Gmail on another computer, scroll to the bottom and click on the last signed in bit, it brings up an option to sign out of Google on all connected computers.

done that thanks, im pretty sure im safe enough now ive changed passwords on all the sites that opened automatically on there.  my only concern is that if someone opens it up and all the pages are still open (gmail for instance), that someone could click on one of the emails (or all of them), read them and get the information from them.  or would signing out of all devices remove that possibility?

If you’ve signed that computer out then on initial email page load it’ll boot the machine out. Even if it didn’t it would as soon as someone clicked an email.

If you’ve signed that computer out then on initial email page load it’ll boot the machine out. Even if it didn’t it would as soon as someone clicked an email.

you are absolutely right chvck.  how do i know this?  because ive bloody found it havent it! 😀  emptied my hand luggage, thought “this still seems heavier than it should for a flimsy beach bag”, took the false bottom out and hey presto, it must have slid underneath.  also found a car charger id been looking for since last years holiday 😀

took the opportunity to pretend i was a baddie and just found it, so tried to access the emails and other sites.  other sites loaded fine, but the emails wouldnt open which was my main concern so thats good.  a little surprised tho that i could still use it, as i thought id logged out of my account so wouldnt be able to load any other sites.

wonder what id have thought if id done the ‘find my device’ thing and it said it was at home.  id have thought it had just thrown a wobbly i spose.

thanks a lot for your help chaps, ive learnt a bit about security now if the worst should actually happen, much appreciated.

Why don’t you have password-only access to the laptop?

Why don’t you have password-only access to the laptop?

i looked at it once, couldnt work it out, thought we-ell, no need, its only ever with me at home or work.  this has been a wake up call so ive googled how to do it and its set up now.

sadex – how do you not have password access to the crhomebook?

Do you mean youre using it in guest mode all the time and just doing session log ins via chrome browser?

Thats a really poor way of using the chromebook.

Logging on to the OS with a password sets the file encryption so that your files are secure it also allows you to remove the device from an active session remotely using the link I pasted above.

sadex – how do you not have password access to the crhomebook?

Do you mean youre using it in guest mode all the time and just doing session log ins via chrome browser?

Thats a really poor way of using the chromebook.

no, im not in guest mode, its my proper account.  when i got the chromebook, i signed in so its my google/gmail account, just no password set.  it never prompted me and like i say, i never got round to it altho i looked into it once.

Logging on to the OS with a password sets the file encryption so that your files are secure it also allows you to remove the device from an active session remotely using the link I pasted above.

as i say, im logged in, so are you saying that by purely setting a password it does more encryption or something?  when i looked into remote access this morning it implied it wasnt down to passwords, but having the remote access app on both laptops.

thanks

Very little is actually stored on a chromebook  so once you start using a password if lost again they can’t access anything as its all stored/password protected/encrypted in the cloud not the actual laptop.

They would have to hack your google account to access owt.

I still dont get how youre logging into your google world.

Everytime the chromebook boots it will request the user log in. The password is that for your google account/gmail.

I cant see how you can log in to any of your google services and not have to provide a password fairly regularly – at least on each boot.

I’d also very strongly recommend turning on 2-stage verification it works very well and provides far greater security from phishing and spoofing attacks.

Anything stored locally (temporary files, downloads, web page caches etc) is encrypted and can only be encrypted with the password so even if the device fell into bad hands there’s nothing can be harvested from the SSD.

Very little is actually stored on a chromebook  so once you start using a password if lost again they can’t access anything as its all stored/password protected/encrypted in the cloud not the actual laptop.

They would have to hack your google account to access owt.

yep, not a lot stored on it, what probably is stored tho will be insurance docs, that sort of thing where when you click them it downloads pdf files etc.  probably more than enough info on my drive to give a lot of personal tho.  and yeah i spose thats what i was more bothered about, them getting into my google/gmail account as its just open when the chromebooks opened.  i envisaged a good rifle through my emails and maybe change the password from within.

I still dont get how youre logging into your google world.

Everytime the chromebook boots it will request the user log in. The password is that for your google account/gmail.

I cant see how you can log in to any of your google services and not have to provide a password fairly regularly – at least on each boot.

i never really boot it up, so no need for password.  yes youre right, when it does boot it asks, but i never log out, just close the lid when done, open it to use and its all there for me still.  i spose the only time i ever log in is if it freezes on occasion and shuts down.  that happens once every two or three months say.

I’d also very strongly recommend turning on 2-stage verification it works very well and provides far greater security from phishing and spoofing attacks.

im not pc-savvy enough to know what that is, ive got it asking for password or PIN on opening the lid now, whats this extra security and how do i enable it?

thanks

My chromebook asks for password when I open it, without logging out. Don’t know if that’s default or something you turn on though, I’d expect it’s default. 2 stage verification asks for your password then an extra piece of information, usually a code from an SMS message that whatever service you’re using will send you or a code from an “authenticator” app that you have on your phone. I have 2FA setup on a few services and use Google Authenticator which gives me a code per service (they change every x seconds). For Google sign ins though (even on PC/Chromebook) it’ll tell me to check my phone and there’ll be an app popped up that I press yes allow or no don’t allow on.

This link explains it way better than I can and also instructs you how to do it for Google stuffs https://www.google.com/landing/2step/