Some pre-built PCs and laptops are showing up with Bitlocker installed and enabled, without asking permission, and without notice, even on Windows 11 Home, which shouldn’t even contain BitLocker code. It’s dangerous; without notice, your computer is encrypted, there may be a recovery key in your Microsoft account, if you know you have one, if you know the password, if you know which email account matches it, and if you even have a spare device to log into that account when Windows 11 botches a patch, redetects an existing device, and insists on the recovery key you might or might not know that you might have.

It’s a mess. Here’s how to check in advance if this applies to your computer, and how to backup your recovery key, before you’re all locked out. Read it now, free in the May 2026 PC Updater News, and a decade of free back issues and there’s also Credential Stuffing, Defined, and the difference between an email and a post card. Hint: It’s just the stamp. Neither one is private.

all free in the May 2026 PC Updater News, and a decade of free back issues.