For quite some time now Windows has included the ability to encrypt all the data on your hard drive, through a feature called Bitlocker. This technology prevents someone who has physical access to your computer from being able to remove the hard drive and bypass your password to view your files. Now reports are coming out that the next update to Windows 11, to be released later this year, will enable this feature by default. This concerns me, because it’s not always apparent to users if Bitlocker is on and in same cases it can result in data loss if a password or recovery key is lost. I’m all for making security features available, but users should be given the option to review their settings after understanding the pros and cons. In the past I had advocated for turning Bitlocker off for nearly all users (unless you have sensitive corporate files and/or travel a lot with a laptop), and that advice has not changed.
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