Question BITLOCKER: Yes or No?

[rlray42]

I have a Dell Laptop - Inspiron 16 5640, Win 11 Home. From what I see my 'C' drive has Bitlocker on. I observed Win Update in progress plus a Firmware Update ran on it's own. My laptop has 'crashed' twice since.. Requiring re entering the BITLOCKER Key, downloading DellOS Recovery tool and using a restore point the 2nd time. 1st time restored factory settings from Dell. Q: I didn't thinking Bitlocker was not available on HOME? Should I turn it off? What issues can I expect if I do turn off?? [ As expected Microsoft & Dell are not much help. ] Thanks in advance for suggestions.

 

[stonecarver]

Me I would say No.

If the laptop stays home it's just less of a headache later.


Yes if.
Use Bitlocker If you use laptop out in the wild I don't see an issue for security if it gets stolen

 

[rlray42]

So what system effects can I expect initially if I turn it off?

 

[evermorex76]

The non-Pro version now comes with "Device Encryption" enabled by default. It's like BitLocker Lite, where you have little control over it, can't use BitLocker To Go for portable drives, can't encrypt anything but the system drive, can't configure it to work with anything except the TPM, and it must store the key in a Microsoft account. You can just search in settings for Device Encryption to disable it.

Encryption has its uses if you're worried about the data on your laptop being accessed, since it makes it impossible to read the drive on any other system without the recovery key, or even accessing the local administrator account and resetting the password. Most stolen devices just get erased and pawned/sold, though, if you're not a medium/high-value target that might have data like passwords to bank accounts and email on your device. You won't have any "issues" from turning it off, in terms of functionality, and of course it makes it possible for YOU to recover data easily from the drive if the system dies, at the expense of that data security.

One of the downsides of Device Encryption is that it uses software encryption if the HDD/SSD isn't self-encrypting (which may be the case on most OEM machines which use cheaper versions of drives), which means the CPU is doing all the work rather than the drive controller doing it. That has resulted in a lot of discoveries of PCs/laptops seeming to be much slower than they should be because of the overhead of the CPU encryption, which the user didn't explicitly ask to be enabled and isn't informed will happen. (BitLocker will also use software if the drive isn't an SED, but at least the user had to take explicit steps to turn that on. They still aren't warned about the performance impact, though.)

When you disable Device Encryption, it will just show that the status is Decrypting, until it finishes. Then nothing will be any different from before except maybe a faster machine.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So what system effects can I expect initially if I turn it off?

Not requiring bitlocker recovery key. LOL

 

[rlray42]

I turned it off!! No problems so far. YAY! Many Thanks to all!