One of the sections that most users have the most for their applications and platforms has to do with privacy and security. Of course, this is something that the Windows operating system achieves and Microsoft offers us a multitude of functions related to it.
To begin with and as we have told you on many occasions, it will always be advisable to use a password, a PIN or some other security method to access the system. This protects us in the event that we work with others who could have access to the equipment without our permission. However, this is not the only security method available.
Surely on some occasion you have come across the BitLocker function on your computer and you don’t know exactly what it refers to. Now we are going to clarify what this very useful technology is for in many cases.
What is BitLocker and what does it do in Windows
Well, for all of you who have ever wondered what this feature integrated into Windows is about, let’s clarify it. It is worth mentioning that we are faced with an encryption application that allows us to protect our hard drive from possible theft of information, even if it is extracted from the computer.
This is a built-in functionality that has been available since Windows Vista last. This means that we can use the feature in Windows 7, 8, 10 and Windows 11. Basically, what BitLocker does is encrypt entire disk drives or parts selected by us. In addition, we must bear in mind that internally it uses an AES encryption algorithm with a 128-bit key.
Here we are referring to an encryption scheme that is considered a standard and is one of the most common in these security functions. But despite all its usefulness, BitLocker has some requirements and restrictions that we will see below.
What do we need to use the encryption function
The first thing we must keep in mind is that for BitLocker to work correctly, it requires two partitions in NTFS format. As a general rule, what we will do is use one of these to store the operating system itself and its applications and another, with a minimum size of 100 megabytes, where the boot system is saved.
This second partition that we mentioned is used for booting and is left unencrypted. We should not store any type of information of our own here.
Another section that we should keep in mind is that this is a function that is only available in certain editions of the operating system. We refer to professional editions such as Windows Pro and Enterprise, for example. Basically, all this means that we will not have this encryption method at our disposal in the Home editions of Windows.
How to disable BitLocker in Windows 11
But of course, as with many of the functions and tools integrated into the Microsoft system, BitLocker is optional. It may happen that we do not want to use this encryption feature with our data on the disk drives.
This means that at any time we can deactivate it in a few steps and thus dispense with the tool as such. This is something we can do from the Settings application. For example, in Windows 11 we just have to go to the section called Privacy and security.
As you can imagine, this is a feature that we will have the possibility of activating again at any time as long as we work with a professional edition of Windows.
