Tested: Windows 11 Pro’s On-By-Default Encryption Slows SSDs Up to 45%::Windows 11 Pro defaults to BitLocker being turned on, using software encryption. We’ve tested the Samsung 990 Pro with hardware encryption to show how the various modes impact performance, and how muc
Also, is always encrypting drives even a good or desirable thing for most users?
I don’t know the details, but what if someone forgets the password, or some PC components get broken, but they still want their data put of there?
Disk encryption is something that should be a choice, opt-in.
That is why backup of your data is a necessity regardless of encryption or not.
It’s not available to most users.
BitLocker is only available on Windows Pro and above, almost every home computer you buy is running Windows Home edition. Mostly businesses run Pro versions, and it’s for extra security features (like Domains and User controls).
In truth, this issue isn’t effecting most people, and the few that do are the ones that most likely want and are willing to sacrifice the speed for security.
Windows Education is fairly common on laptops (kind of a hybrid between Pro and Enterprise from what I can tell). But even in the case of Pro it would be up to the OEM if you’re buying a pre-built. This would mostly only affect people who have gone out of the way to install Pro themselves, and don’t know how to bypass it (although maybe some prebuilts have it used as an oversight, or intentional feature).
Windows Education isn’t available to the average consumer. You aren’t able to just walk into a store and purchase one. It’s like trying to buy Windows Pro for Enterprise. If you are able to do this, then the seller is violating their sales agreement with Microsoft.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/education?tabshow=schools
https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-Contact-Microsoft-Education-website.html?lcid=en-ca
As for installing Pro yourself, if you went out of your way to spend the extra money on a Pro license, then you should already understand what it entails. Software anything will always cause a performance hit. Anything from Encryption to RAID.
Some prebuilts will have Windows Pro by default, but those are business level devices (you need a Pro or higher to work with Domains, very common in business).
You can buy laptops with it installed, is what I meant to say.
I’d argue it’s similar to the debate over whether HTTPS is needed for most sites (it is and there’s little excuse not to at this point). It also matches what is expected from other devices like phones that are encrypted by default now.
As for data loss: for Home users at least, a recovery key is backed up to the user’s Microsoft account.