I want to make my Windows 10 Pro PC more secure from something like a robbery or where my physical PC is in danger, not from a threat like a hacker or something on the internet who gains access to my PC.
As I was using my PC, I just realized that I store so much personal information on my PC: my personal photos, my personal journal and so on all on my PC. I have setup a "login password" where I'm asked to enter a password whenever I boot into Windows, however, aside from this I don't have any other passwords on it.
It'd be so easy for a burglar to walk into my study and just detach my external USB drives, my internal HDD's and so on. What's to prevent someone from taking my USB HDD's or internal HDD's and then connecting them to their PC at home and accessing my data?
Thank you!
Two things if you keep your photos docs ect on Google drive or 1 drive if your pc is lost your stuff is safe on the cloud so you wont loose them in a fire etc. The protecting from someone putting the hd in another pc the only real option is to encrypt the drives
Encrypting my PC's internal HDD would take a long time... Is there another way for me to secure my PC?
detach your hard drive from your computer.
Thanks for the reply, but I'm not sure what you mean?detach your hard drive from your computer.
Are there any other options?
If someone stole my PC's internal HDD and plugged it into their own PC, would my "login password" show up for them to enter before they could access my files?
Unless your user files are encrypted, anyone could steal your HDD, install it in another PC and read all of your files.
Either store very sensitive files on an external disk and keep it in a secure physical location or encrypt your sensitive user files.
Where did you get that idea? And who cares how long it takes? It happens in the background and doesn't affect your use of the computer. You can even shut it down, and when it starts up, it continues the encryption (BitLocker)Encrypting my PC's internal HDD would take a long time... Is there another way for me to secure my PC?
There is also the option to encrypt specific folders, rather than your whole drive. This is tied to your login though, and if you ever had to re-install, you have to remember to unencrypt the folder before hand, then re-encrypt it again after reinstallation.
Could they even plug the HDD that Windows 10 Pro is currently running on and access my files or would they need to enter my "Windows login" password?Unless your user files are encrypted, anyone could steal your HDD, install it in another PC and read all of your files.
Either store very sensitive files on an external disk and keep it in a secure physical location or encrypt your sensitive user files.
No, they would have full access to all files without needing a password. I recently replaced the hard drive in my laptop with a SSD and put the old HDD containing Windows 10 and all user files in an external disk caddy. I confirm I can read every file on that HDD without needing any passwords.
