Windows 10: How to safely and easily encrypt my notebook PC?

I have questions about how to safely and easily encrypt my notebook PC.

I downloaded some software to do it, I have a SSD only. I was not sure what I was doing, even after looking around on the web- so I have uninstalled the software.

What software would you recommend?

What drives should I and should I not encrypt? When I run the encryption, will my files still stay installed on my notebook? I do not want them to be deleted...

How does this encryption business work? I do not understand how it protects my files.. is it so no one can plug in my SSD to their own device and get in to the files and look at what they are?




I also am wondering does anyone know how I can protect my device from Offline NT password & registry editor? I have used that disc before when I forgot my password on an old machine and it is very easy to break in to a Windows machine. Apparently Windows 10 is still vulnerable to some of these sorts of utilities? Is there anything I can install, software or hardware, to mend those vulnerabilities away?

I asked YubiCo if YubiKey protects against those vulnerabilities but their responses suggest to me that the answer is a firm no.

:)

 

Cortana Notebook

In order to enable the Notebook icon in Cortana, I suggest you to check if you have enabled Cortana.

To enable Cortana, please follow the steps below:

• Go to Cortana.
• Go to Settings.
• Turn on “Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts”.

Hope this helps.

 

Seagate And McAfee Drive Advances In Self-Encrypting Notebook Computers

Seagate today announced sweeping advances in its global push to help secure notebook computer information from theft or loss. To combat growing threats to mobile information, Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, is now shipping its groundbreaking, self-encrypting notebook PC hard drives, now with up to 320GB of capacity, to the worldwide distribution channel, with 500GB models coming soon. Additionally, Dell is now shipping a notebook with a 160GB self-encrypting hard drive. McAfee is set to provide software for the enterprise-wide management of notebooks with Seagate Secure hard drives.

Powerful, easy-to-use notebook data security is increasingly important as the global adoption of mobile PCs continues to soar and more notebooks are used to store sensitive personal and business information. Lost or stolen notebooks can cost companies millions of dollars in compromised proprietary information and threaten consumers with the high cost of identity theft, yet many computers remain unprotected. According to the United States FBI, a notebook computer is stolen every 53 seconds and 97% are never recovered*.

The new Momentus FDE (full-disk encryption) notebook hard drives, 5400- and 7200-rpm models with capacities of up to a half-terabyte, deliver powerful protection to help guard against unauthorized access to information on lost or stolen notebook computers. Part of the Seagate Secure family of self-encrypting drives, the Momentus FDE drives feature government-grade encryption that delivers powerful security for confidential customer or corporate information on executive notebook computers, critical customer data on field sales and customer support notebook PCs, and sensitive information on personal notebooks. “Delivering easy-to-use notebook security that also is cost-effective requires leading partnerships and technologies,” said Tom Major, vice president of the Personal Compute Business Unit at Seagate. “Seagate is pleased to be teaming with industry leaders to simplify security management for our customers and providing our OEM and channel customers with the world’s fastest self-encrypting hard drive.”

Businesses of all sizes and shapes are turning to hard drive-based encryption solutions to protect the important information that ensures their competitive edge. Papa Gino’s, a Dedham, Massachusetts-based restaurant chain, has deployed approximately 80 self-encrypting notebook computers for its workers since last year and has its sights set on using the newest secure notebooks.

“With these hardware-based security solutions only the right people get access to the right information with the best performance and the lowest price,” said Chris Cahalin, manager of Network Operations at Papa Gino’s.

McAfee Teams with Seagate to Simplify Management of Secure Notebooks
McAfee joins a growing list of security software providers – including SECUDE International, Wave Systems and WinMagic Data Security – that are teaming with Seagate to help secure notebook PCs. McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator management system and McAfee’s endpoint encryption client will integrate with Seagate Momentus FDE hard drives to use the embedded hardware encryption, giving customers full, user-rich features and the total enterprise management required to secure notebook computers in heterogeneous environments.

“McAfee provides leading enterprise-class, powerful encryption and strong access control technologies,” said Tony Jennings, vice president Strategic Partnerships at McAfee. “By teaming with Seagate on its new encrypting Momentus drive, we are extending additional protection tools to our customers.”

Through McAfee ePO, organizations worldwide can leverage Seagate Momentus FDE hard drives in heterogeneous environments to secure notebook information. IT security personnel can enforce policy management globally, enable token authentication and end-user password recovery, and aid organizations to prove that a missing notebook was encrypted at the time it was lost or stolen – a requirement for compliance with many data-privacy laws.

Seagate Delivers Strong, Simple-to-Use Notebook Security for Consumers and Organizations
Seagate Secure hard drives are simple and easy for consumers and organizations to use. Individual computer users who are not subject to corporate policies and regulatory compliance, don’t need multi-user encryption management and want to protect personal and other sensitive information can easily deploy a notebook with a Momentus FDE hard drive, which installs as easily as a traditional drive. Once installed, the user simply enters a BIOS password, then logs on as usual, and the security is in place. The hardware-based encryption engine delivers security without the overhead – no bootup delays, no system slowdowns – and the BIOS automatically authenticates the user for transparent security.

For organizations requiring high strength authentication and a simple way to meet state and federal consumer-privacy laws, Momentus FDE HD – the industry’s first hard drive with built-in encryption – can be deployed in notebook fleets to enable secure disposal and repurposing of drives and notebooks; security audits; password escrow; pre-boot authentication in the form of biometrics, passwords and smart cards; and simple centralized management.

Now shipping is the Momentus 5400 FDE.3 hard drive with capacities of 320GB and 160GB and 8MBs of cache, as is Momentus 7200 FDE, Seagate’s first high-performance (7200 RPM) self-encrypting notebook drive, with capacities of 320GB and 160GB and a 16MBcache. Seagate’s Momentus 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM self-encrypting hard drives in capacities up to 500GB are scheduled to begin shipping early next year. All Momentus FDE drives feature a fast Serial ATA interface and built-in AES encryption, an AES government-grade encryption used to encrypt all hard drive information transparently and automatically.

The Seagate Secure family is powered by a robust security platform that combines strong, fully automated hardware-based security with a programming foundation that makes it easy to add security-based software applications for organization-wide encryption key management, multi-factor user authentication and other capabilities that help lock down digital information at rest. Seagate Secure hard drives are the only other hardware-based encryption solutions that deliver both AES government-grade security and centralized notebook security management. The drives aid government, healthcare, education, banking and financial institutions to comply with consumer laws and state and federal legislation requiring identity theft protection.

*2007 Annual CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey

Source: Seagate

 

Device Encryption not avaiable

Hello Fraczek,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

We understand your concern in this regard.

• Are you referring to BitLocker Drive Encryption?
• What preventing you from doing this?
• Did you get any error message or code while doing this?

Before you come up with the above information, suggest you to refer the article

Help protect your files using BitLocker Drive Encryption and see if it help you.

Do refer the article
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide and check if it help you with the required information.

Keep us posted if you require further assistance.