windows 10 professional

Enable BitLocker without TPM.

 in Windows  tagged BitLocker / data protection / encryption / security / tpm / Trusted Platform Module / windows / Windows 10 / windows 10 pro / windows 10 professional by

As technology advances, the need for security in our devices also increases. Windows 10 Pro offers a feature called BitLocker, which can help protect your files from unauthorized access. However, not all devices have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip that BitLocker requires to function. Don’t worry, though, as there is still a way to enable BitLocker on your device without a TPM.

In this post, we will guide you through the process of enabling BitLocker on your Windows 10 Pro device without a compatible TPM. We have also included a video tutorial that you can follow along with.

Step 0: Check if your device has a compatible TPM.

Before we get started, you should check if your device has a compatible TPM. To do this, press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box. Type tpm.msc and press Enter. If your device has a TPM, you will see a window that shows its status.

Step 1:

Follow the steps in the video to change the configuration of BitLocker so that it will allow you to set it up without a compatible TPM.

Step 2: Enable BitLocker

If your device does not have a compatible TPM, we can still enable BitLocker by using a password or USB key instead. To enable BitLocker, right-click on the drive you want to encrypt and select “Turn on BitLocker.”

Step 3: Choose your preferred unlock method

When prompted to choose an unlock method, select “Enter a password” or “Insert a USB flash drive.” If you select the USB option, you will need to insert the USB drive before proceeding.

Step 4: Choose how much of your drive to encrypt

You can choose to encrypt only the used space or the entire drive. Select your preferred option and click “Next.”

Step 5: Choose where to store your recovery key

Your recovery key is a backup that you can use to access your files if you forget your password or lose your USB key. Choose whether to save the recovery key to your Microsoft account, save it to a file, or print it. Make sure to store your recovery key somewhere safe.

Step 6: Begin the encryption process

Once you have chosen your settings and saved your recovery key, click “Start encrypting.” The encryption process may take some time, depending on the size of your drive.

Congratulations! You have successfully enabled BitLocker on your Windows 10 Pro device without a compatible TPM.

Please refer to the accompanying video for a visual guide and demonstration of the steps outlined in this post.

Increase BitLocker to 256-bit

 in Windows  tagged 256bit / BitLocker / data protection / encryption / security / windows / Windows 10 / windows 10 pro / windows 10 professional by

Encryption is an essential security measure that helps protect your sensitive data from unauthorized access. One of the most popular encryption tools available for Windows 10 Pro is BitLocker, which can encrypt your entire hard drive or specific folders and files. By default, BitLocker uses 128-bit encryption, which is considered secure but not the most robust option. If you want to increase the encryption key to 256 bits, which is the highest level of encryption currently available, follow these steps:

In summary, increasing your BitLocker encryption key to 256 bits is an easy way to add more security to your data. With 256-bit encryption, you can rest assured that your sensitive data is well protected.

Starting XAMPP with port 80 on Windows 10 Professional 1

 in Applications  tagged apache / iis / port 80 / w3svc / Windows 10 / windows 10 professional / www / xampp by

Recently we were asked to have a look at a XAMPP installation on a Windows 10 Professional machine which would not start while giving the following error:

Problem detected!
Port 80 in use by "Unable to open process" with PID 4!
Apache WILL NOT start without the configured ports free!
You need to uninstall/disable/reconfigure the blocking application
or reconfigure Apache and the Control Panel to listen on a different port

The culprit of this problem was a module of the IIS (Internet Information Services for Windows Server) that is named World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service or W3SVC service). Apparently, the W3SVC was hoarding port 80 even though IIS was not executing. To provide a quick solution, we decided to stop the W3SVC and get over this difficulty in a jiffy.

As you can see in the following video, to stop the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service or W3SVC service) we performed the next steps:

  1. Clicked on the Start button
  2. Typed in the word services, which showed the Services link which we clicked to start the windows services  manager
  3. Then, we scrolled down in the Services window until we found the World Wide Web Publishing Service
  4. Finally, we right clicked on it and selected Stop.

After that, XAMPP was able to start Apache on port 80 with no issues.