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Disable BitLocker Software Encryption Windows 11 Pro

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In some Windows 11 Pro installation instances, which I won’t cover here to keep this article short, Windows 11 Pro will automatically enable BitLocker software based encryption on your solid state drive (SSD). Not sure if this auto-enabling occurs on traditional mechanical hard drives, let me know in the comments section.

The particular Windows 11 Pro installation on my Intel NUC 12 fell within the Microsoft threshold of auto-enabling the BitLocker software encryption. This was without my knowledge nor was I allowed to configure the encryption password or separately store the encryption key. My initial inspection leads me to believe that Microsoft simply uses your Microsoft Account password as the BitLocker encryption key but I have not confirmed this. Let me know in the comments section.

Also, when I originally setup my Windows 11 Pro installation, I used a local account instead of a Microsoft Account. I assume that when I accessed my Microsoft Account to connect my Microsoft 365 software (such as Word and OneDrive) Windows configured BitLocker at that time. I could be completely wrong, but the fact that BitLocker was enabled without my knowledge is a fact in my particular case.

It wasn’t until I discovered an article on Tom’s Hardware regarding “Windows Software BitLocker Slows Performance” that I became aware of a potential performance implication. In that article is covers how the BitLocker software encryption feature can slow an SSD by up to 45%.

This article will cover what I did in order to disable BitLocker software encryption on my SSD since I prefer daily maximum performance over the (in my opinion, false) sense of security provided by encrypting the data on my drive. Encrypting my data may also make data recovery more difficult should the need arise, but I may be incorrect there as well.

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Stop Windows from Spying, Collecting Data

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Using a free network monitoring tool such as WireShark we can see that several discrete and background connections are made without our request when simply accessing our computers.

In this article I provide a few simple hosts file entries to help increase our privacy.

 

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How to Verify a File Hash on Windows

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To ensure that a file has not been tempered with or was corrupted during a transfer or download we can verify the checksums with tools built into Windows.

This is a crucially important for security purposes, especially if you install software from a source other than an official site. If the file has been changed it could contain malware that spies on you or takes your data hostage, for instance.

The checksum verification tool you use is also important which is why I recommend using the built in Windows PowerShell and certutil tools.

In this article I provide simple and quick Windows commands to verify MD5 and SHA256 checksums.

 

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Disable Command Prompt on Windows

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Both the PowerShell and Command Prompt tools may be used to configure various system settings or access various apps. However, most Windows users will never need to use these tools directly. But because they exist and are accessible, it is often recommend to disable them to help prevent a malicious actor from utilizing these dormant tools against said users.

To help increase your cybersecurity it is recommend to toggle off the Command Prompt on your Windows based PC. You can then toggle the Command Prompt back on as needed.

Within this article I will show you how to disable (and re-enable) the Command Prompt on your Windows PC. You may also be interested in my other article on how to disable PowerShell on Windows.

 

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Disable PowerShell on Windows

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Both the PowerShell and Command Prompt tools may be used to configure various system settings or access various apps. However, most Windows users will never need to use these tools directly. But because they exist and are accessible, it is often recommend to disable them to help prevent a malicious actor from utilizing these dormant tools against said users.

To help increase your cybersecurity it is recommend to toggle off PowerShell on your Windows based PC. You can then toggle PowerShell back on as needed.

Within this article I will show you how to disable (and re-enable) PowerShell on your Windows PC. You may also be interested in my other article on how to disable the Command Prompt on Windows.

 

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Remove Microsoft Authenticator Greyed Out Account

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Recently used my Microsoft Authenticator to access an email address on my mobile phone which I only needed temporary access to. After which I removed the email account from Outlook on my phone only to have it remain (greyed out) within Microsoft Authenticator.

To remove the greyed out account from Microsoft Authenticator I had to go to my phones’ “Settings” then “Accounts and backup” followed by “Manage accounts“. To my surprise, even though I deleted the email address from Outlook, the email account was still there. Once I removed the email address and reloaded Microsoft Authenticator the greyed out account was gone.

Conclusion

I hope sharing my experience on how I successfully removed an unwanted, greyed out account from Microsoft Authenticator has helped you.

You may support my work by sending me a tip using your Brave browser or by sending me a one time donation using your credit card.

Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.

 

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Synchronize Microsoft Authenticator Between Devices

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This article provides a step-by-step guide on an attempt to synchronize the Microsoft Authenticator app across multiple devices. Please be aware that the methods outlined here may not be officially supported by Microsoft and could potentially lead to the loss of your stored two-factor authentication codes. Use this information at your own discretion and risk.

WARNING! The instructions herein are for my own personal use to jog my memory since I keep forgetting to take my memory pills. These instructions may be wrong and may cause you to lose all of your stored two factor authentication codes. This will obviously prevent you from accessing your two factor authentication enabled accounts. Do not attempt to synchronize your Microsoft Authenticator between devices using this article. Now back to jogging my memory.

 

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Bypass Windows 10 Login Password

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Occasionally I will have a client who forgets their Windows 10 Local Account login password.

This article, which is strictly for my personal and educational use only, covers how to bypass the Windows 10 login screen so that I can, with their consent and permission, access client data for recovery or properly reset their Windows 10 login password.

 

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Windows Defender Threat Blocked Behavior Win32 Hive ZY

Threat blocked Behavior:Win32/Hive.ZY

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After a standard Windows Update and restart I had my Microsoft Defender Antivirus security service freak out (and me with it) with constant notifications regarding a blocked severe threat.

The blocked threat was detected as: Behavior:Win32/Hive.ZY

In short, this was a false positive and took over 8 hours and 4 different Security Intelligence Updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus to resolve the (non) issue.

It sucks that this had to happen, but I am appreciative that the team at Microsoft was able to correct their error and get it resolved.

 

Threat blocked Behavior Win32 Hive ZY

 

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