This article reviews Windows 7 BitLocker and BitLocker to Go in detail and gives tips how to install and configure BitLocker.

BitLocker was introduced with Windows Vista and, as far as I know, it was not very popular. This might be because it is available only for Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Enterprise. But the main reason probably is that it is complicated to set up. I compared BitLocker to TrueCrypt a year ago and concluded that the Open Source tool is the better drive encryption solution. BitLocker in Windows 7, however, has significantly improved. In this article I discuss BitLocker’s system drive encryption, and in my next post I will review BitLocker-to-Go, the new encryption solution for removable storage devices.

BitLocker for Vista was too complicated to set up once the operating system is installed. Users had to shrink the system partition to make space for the BitLocker partition. Microsoft acknowledged that this was too difficult for end users, and too time consuming for administrators, and released the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, which is part of the Ultimate Extras and is also available for Windows Vista Enterprise.

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BitLocker to Go is a new feature in Windows 7 that allows you to encrypt data on removable drives such as USB sticks. I believe that BitLocker to Go will be more popular than BitLocker for fixed-drive encryption, which I reviewed in my last article. Portable drives get lost much easier simply because they are smaller than laptops. Because they often contain important business data, unencrypted memory sticks pose a considerable security risk for any organization.

Of course, flash drive encryption isn’t anything new. Many portable storage devices come with their own encryption software and there are also free tools such as TrueCrypt that support USB stick encryption. However, in corporate environments, BitLocker to Go has some important advantages over these free solutions. In this article, I will discuss BitLocker to Go from the end user’s perspective. In my next post, I will cover the management features.

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In my last article I discussed the BitLocker to Go features from a user’s perspective. Today I will take a closer look at the features that are of interest from a system administrator’s point of view.

I think it is important to have just one USB stick encryption solution in a corporate environment because it simplifies the work for help desk personnel. If an end user calls because he or she is unable to access the data on an encrypted memory stick, and you don’t even know what encryption software has been used, things can get difficult.

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