Ed Bott - Windows 10 Support Secrets

40 CHAPTER 3 | Staying secure Figure 3-3: Use this Control Panel page to manage encryption on system drives and fixed or removable data drives. On any device you travel with, it’s crucial to encrypt the system drive so that your secrets remain safely locked away if your laptop is lost or stolen. But one thing most people don’t know is that you can also use BitLocker To Go to encrypt removable storage devices, such as USB flash drives. You can only manage BitLocker To Go on a system running Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education. But after you encrypt a USB flash drive for the first time using a password, you can unlock that drive and use it on a system running any modern version of Windows, including Home editions. In File Explorer, a removable drive encrypted with BitLocker To Go appears with a padlock icon, as shown in Figure 3-4. Type a password to unlock it, and use the options in that password box to decide whether you want that drive to automatically be unlocked when you sign in on the device to which it’s attached.