If you lose your laptop  or it is stolen – unscrupulous people may be able to access the information on the computer or take out the drive and access it through another computer.

Bitlocker will encrypt the hard drive in your computer. You wont notice any difference in normal use but if your computer is stolen or lost then that encryption will stop criminals accessing your data or making use of the computer.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices include Bitlocker as standard, to prevent these problems.

BitLocker also lets the user lock the normal start-up process until a PIN is entered or a USB flash drive is inserted into the device. This makes the device much more secure but many people don’t want to do this.

Hardware

BitLocker provides the most protection when used with a hardware component called Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The TPM is installed in many newer computers by the manufacturers. It works with BitLocker to help protect user data and to ensure that a computer has not been tampered with while the system was offline.

Bitlocker works on computers with TPM but it has more capability when combined with TPM.

Password Recovery

What happens if you lose your Bitlocker password?

There is the  BitLocker Recovery Password Viewer which enables you to locate and view BitLocker Drive Encryption recovery passwords that have been backed up to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This would commonly be available in businesses but not for personal purchasers.

If you are considering this ty[e of improved security for your devices, consult your computer seller or another expert for advice.