Bitlocker in Windows 7 Ultimate Edition
October 25, 2009 by Milo Riano
Filed under Computers
I am very happy with my Windows 7 Ultimate edition and one of the key features is the Bitlocker technology. In summary, BitLocker Drive Encryption helps you protect all your files stored on the drive where Windows is installed and also on internal data drives on your computer. This works similar to EFS or the Encrypting File System but the EFS only encrypts individual files while the BitLocker technology encrypts the entire drive. As a user, you would not encounter problems while using your Windows 7 computer and you can go ahead on your normal operations. Unauthorized users are the ones blocked from accessing your system files as the drives encrypted using BitLocker relies on your user password for decrypting the data. Unlocking your encrypted data can be done either in typing your user password, or by using a smart card.
BitLocker is especially useful when you lost your computer as you have peace of mind that all your confidential data won’t be read by others.
To be able to use the BitLocker technology in Windows 7 Ultimate edition, below are the steps:
1. Click on the “Start” button of Windows 7
2. Click on the “Control Panel”
3. On the “Control Panel” screen, type “System and Security”
4. On the “System and Security” screen, type “BitLocker Drive Encryption”
5. On the BitLocker Drive Encryption screen, you should be able to see all your disk drives (see image below):
6. On the right side of each drive, you can see “Turn on BitLocker” technology
7. Choose and supple all the necessary fields to completing the BitLocker implementation on your chosen hard drive
I have turned this on yet since I want to research more whether this is going to impact the performance of my laptop. My laptop is already almost 3 years old and I would be using this for two more years. Since I am not bringing my laptop anywhere, I wouldn’t hurry up turning the BitLocker technology on.
If you bring your laptop outside your room, and your laptop isn’t as old as mine, I would strongly suggest that you use BitLocker technology, this should give you peace of mind.
Image from my Windows 7 computer.
