Can my notebook call home?

[Tex]

someone said some notebooks can send a signal throughout the internet to the place that owns it, to tell it where it is. is that true? How can you tell if that's happenin

 

[Celegorm]

Yes, some can. It's anti-theft technology. In theory, it can only be activated to report it's location by the manufacturer when reported stolen. It's not part of the OS so just wiping windows will not "stop" a stolen laptop from getting tracked.