Why does my pc automatically encrypt downloads

Windows 10 SurfacePro 4 i think? Device encryption is off Bitlocker is off I log in to windows 10 on my PC using the same account as my surface, but i dont have any issues.

Right click the Windows logo Start button. Click Command Prompt Admin. Sign out from your current user account, and then sign in to the newly created account. Check if the issue will persist on the new account. How can i stop windows encrypting all of my files? This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question 8. Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. Have you run Windows Security and Malwarebytes lately?

How satisfied are you with this reply? If you forget the passphrase, you get locked out of your own computer, losing your data forever. Files open and close as they normally would, and programs work just as they would on an unencrypted machine.

This means, however, that when your computer is powered on and unlocked, whomever is sitting at it has access to all your files and data, unencumbered by encryption. There are a few attacks against disk encryption that are tricky to defend against. Here are some precautions you can take. This defends against memory-based attacks. Computers have temporary storage called RAM otherwise known as memory , which you can think of as scratch paper for all of your software.

When your computer is powered on, your software is constantly writing to and deleting from parts of your RAM. If you use disk encryption, as soon as you successfully unlock your encrypted disk the encryption key is stored in RAM until you power your computer off. It needs to be — otherwise there would be no way to encrypt and decrypt files on the fly as you use your computer.

If an attacker has access to your computer and your disk is unlocked this is true even if your laptop is suspended , the attacker can simply plug a malicious device into your computer to be able to manipulate your RAM. This could include directly reading your encryption keys or injecting commands into your operating system, such as closing the screen lock program.

When you power your computer off, everything in RAM fades into nothingness. An attacker with physical access to your powered-on computer can use a screwdriver to open the case of your computer and then use an upside-down can of compressed air to freeze your RAM as in the image above. By sifting through that data, they can find a copy of your encryption key, which can then be used to decrypt all of the files on your hard disk.

This is called the cold boot attack , and you can see a video of it in action here. Because of this, you may consider closing all your work and completely shutting down your computer at the end of the day rather than just suspending it. You should consider carrying your laptop with you wherever you go, as inconvenient as that may be, if your data is extremely important to you. When traveling, bring it with you in a carry-on bag instead of checking it in your luggage, and carry it with you rather than leaving it in a hotel room.

Microsoft BitLocker does some cool tricks to make software-based evil maid attacks considerably harder by storing your encryption key in a special tamper-resistant chip in your computer called a Trusted Platform Module, or TPM. Of course, there are other attacks against TPMs. You can set up your Linux laptop to always boot off of a USB stick that you carry around with you, which also mitigates against evil maid attacks in this case, percent of your disk actually is encrypted, and you carry the tiny unencrypted part around with you.

But attackers with temporary access to your laptop can do more than modify your boot code. They could install a hardware keylogger, for example, that you would have no way of knowing is in your computer. Rather than stealing it, the attacker needs to secretly tamper with it and return it to you without raising your suspicions.

You can try using bleeding-edge tamper-evidence technology, such as glitter nail polish , to detect if someone has tampered with your computer. This is quite difficult to do in practice. It all depends on your threat model , which basically is an assessment of your situation to determine how paranoid you really need to be.

Only the most high-risk users need to worry about memory-dumping or evil maid attacks. The rest of you can simply turn on disk encryption and forget about it. TrueCrypt is popular disk encryption software used by millions of people. Join our site today to ask your question. This site is completely free -- paid for by advertisers and donations.

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