If you use a laptop daily and always carry it with you, you should use all the necessary tools to prevent anyone from accessing its contents, whether colleagues or third parties, especially if you have the misfortune of losing him. or even have it stolen.
The first protection measure to implement on any Windows PC is to create a user account and protect it with a PIN. However, this is not the only security option we can implement. We can also add a BIOS access password. However, both of these measures leave much to be desired. The first is very easy to ignore using applications that allow us to remove the access password by starting the PC from a USB stick.
The second is as simple as removing the battery from the device to lose the stored data and be able to turn on the device without any type of protection. The best measure that can be taken to prevent anyone with physical access to our laptop from accessing its contents is to encrypt the storage unit. On the market we can find a large number of programs to encrypt disks, but the best of all is offered by Microsoft with Bitlocker.
Encrypt a hard drive with Bitlocker
The first thing we need to know about Bitlocker is that it is an application included natively in Windows 10 and Windows 11, although it is only available in Pro and later versions of Windows. If we have the Home version of Windows 10 or Windows 11, we do not need to continue searching, since we will not find the application or the possibility of downloading from any website.
If we encrypt our main disk with Bitlocker, every time we turn on the PC we will be asked for the access password. If we do not have the access password used by Bitlocker, all files will remain encrypted and there will be no way to access their contents. If we do not want to encrypt the primary disk but rather a secondary disk where we store the data, we can also do that using this application.
The first thing we need to do to encrypt a drive with Bitlocker is to open the application from the Windows search box. All drives connected to the computer will then be displayed. To encrypt the primary drive, in the Operating System Drive section, click Enable Bitlocker.
Next, Bitlocker will offer us three options to save the recovery key, the recovery key needed to access the contents of the drive. If we lose it or forget it, we will never be able to access the content stored inside. If we select the Save to File option, we need a USB drive because we can’t store it on the PC where we are going to encrypt the drive because we will not be able to access it if the drive is encrypted.
Then, to provide greater security, it is advisable to select the option Encrypt the entire disk. This way the entire disk will be encrypted and not just the used space, although we can also select this option which is faster.
In the next window select the encryption type and where we select the option Encryption mode new and click next.
Before starting encryption, a process that can slow down the operation of the computer, it is advisable to check the Run Bitlocker system box, to ensure that Bitlocker recognizes the established password. Finally, we click on Start encryption.
