Windows updates have destroyed countless PCs—here’s how I protect mine

Recent Windows updates are triggering BitLocker recovery screens for a lot of people. Since it’s enabled by default, a lot of people don’t even realize they have the device encryption feature on until they’re hit with this screen. The decryption key is automatically uploaded to the Microsoft Account you used to log into Windows. If that backup was never made or interrupted, there is absolutely no way to get to your data without that key. Microsoft support cannot reset it. The same is true if you can’t recover the Microsoft account used to log into Windows. Here’s what you can do to avoid this nightmare scenario.