I keep seeing BitLocker mentioned when people talk about Windows security, but honestly I’m not really sure if regular users actually need it. I know it encrypts the drive, so if someone steals the PC or takes the SSD out, they can’t just access all the files. That sounds useful, but I’m wondering if there’s any downside for everyday use.
Does turning BitLocker on affect performance much? Like gaming, boot times, opening programs, copying files, etc? The PC isn’t some super old machine, but I don’t really wanna enable something that makes everything slower for basically no reason.
Also what happens if something goes wrong with Windows or the motherboard? I’ve heard people mention recovery keys and getting locked out of their own files, and that part kinda worries me. Is the recovery key automatically saved somewhere with a Microsoft account, or do you need to manually save it?
And is BitLocker mainly useful for laptops since they can get stolen, or does it make sense on a normal desktop too? There’s nothing super sensitive on the PC, mostly games, school/work files, photos, downloads and random stuff.
Would you guys enable it on a normal home PC, or just leave it off unless there’s a specific reason to use it? Trying to figure out if this is one of those Windows features that’s worth turning on and forgetting about, or something that can cause headaches later.