my computer got stolen like a month ago (i got roved at my apartment) and i could not recover it so i had to buy another. On this new computer i installed ultravnc but i need a program that emails me if the ip of this computer has changed. Like for example if this new computer got stolen and it gets connected to the internet i want to have it on my email account the ip address to access with ultravnc
thanks
p.s. sorry for my bad English
I've got a way to do exactly what you want. But it probably won't work because, as MaQleod has said, if your laptop is stolen, most thieves will usually format it first thing.
You should read the advice I have below because it might help you understand computer security a little more and especially the limitations of what you are trying to do. If you just want an answer, go to the bottom of this.
Most smart thieves will usually disconnect the laptop battery as soon as they can, because they will not be sure what security measures it has. If they stole the laptop for the data, they will just take the hard-drive and dump the laptop. If they took the laptop because they want to sell it/use it, then they will remove the hard-drive and discard it. Or format it.
Even if the thief is silly enough to turn it on without removing or formatting the hard-drive, then your computer won't be able to e-mail the IP address to you unless it is connected to the internet. If it's not within range of a Wireless network it already knows, then the thief will have to know your password, log in, and connect to their wireless network. The only other way the script will is if the thief turns the computer on and attaches it to a wired network. This is not likely!
I think you need to understand how thieves operate and be realistic with your expectations for securing your computer. You have to ask yourself a few questions:
Do you want to protect your data on the computer? Is this the most valuable thing? If your disk is not encrypted, then your passwords won't help. The thief can take out the hard disk and put it into an external drive bay and then read all the information. If this is your worry, look at "full disk encryption" - there is a great program out there called TrueCrypt which is free. It can be very complicated to use, so test it out on a computer you can mess up first!
Do you want to protect the computer itself? Maybe it's a $5,000 super-gaming laptop? Maybe this is why the thief stole it? If this is the case, then what you are trying to do is very hard. Because when the laptop is stolen, they will not turn it on. Maybe they will even remove the battery! What you can do is use GPS tracking chip. This is not easy and can be very expensive. But maybe you have a big budget, so you can look at things like www.exo5.com or www.securatrak.com.au. These are companies which will charge you lots of money and usually only deal with big businesses, so they might not even help you.
If you want to make a home-made GPS tracker and fit it in your laptop, then there are a few options. First you need a GPS transmitter. You can use a pet-tracking GPS collar or a motorcycle GPS tracker. These usually have ongoing subscription fees in addition to the up-front cost. The biggest difficulty you will have is fitting it in the computer. If you have a second hard-disk bay, or an optical drive bay, you might be able to fit it in there. You will need some electronics experience here. You can disassemble the tracker and remove the battery (which will be the largest part) and use your laptops battery instead. If the battery and GPS transmitter use the same voltage, you are in luck! If they don't, then you can use a DC-to-DC converter which will add space.
Considering your question, I doubt you have the electronics skills necessary to do what I suggested above on your own (although, if I am wrong, I apologise!).
So, realistically, what cheap, easy and reliable options do you have left? None. Portable device tracking is a problem every big business faces. For most devices a company will use full-disk encryption. They will usually only go to the expense of using GPS trackers for veeeery expensive devices.
So, with my security lesson over, time for the method I promised.
You mentioned you installed UltraVNC. You will not be able to connect to UltraVNC on your computer if the thief attaches the device to his network unless he configures his router to forward VNC traffic to the laptop. Which won't happen.
You can use TeamViewer instead of UltraVNC. TeamViewer will actually initiate the connection to the TeamViewer servers when it starts and wait for you to connect. The way that TeamViewer works means that the router does not need to be specially configured. Also, as it can install as a system service, it means TeamViewer will start even if nobody is logged into the computer. Of course, it will still have to be connected to the internet first. Again, this is not very likely.
So, if your computer isn't formatted, it is turned on, and it is connected to the internet, then you are in luck! You can find the public IP address of the thief through TeamViewer.
Check out Get IP Address from TeamViewer without connecting which will allow you to check the IP address without connecting and alerting the thief.
Good luck!
