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Earlier today, we published an article regarding Microsoft's recent removal of the BYPASSNRO script and how it has irked Windows 11 users. The script still allows users to go around the internet and Microsoft Account (MSA) requirements during the Windows 11 OOBE (initial setup). If you are against it, you can let Microsoft know via the official Feedback Hub portal. One of the possible reasons for the Microsoft Account requirement is the default BitLocker encryption changes on the latest Windows 11 feature update, as the recovery key is backed up on the user's MSA. Security from data encryption is something Microsoft also stressed when it discussed the benefits of TPM. For those who are on Windows 11 24H2 or are planning to upgrade soon, keep in mind that Microsoft encrypts your Windows drive with BitLocker or Device Encryption by default. While Microsoft would do so in the past on non-Home editions, the requirement for BitLocker was relaxed for Windows 11 24H2, and now even Home edition systems can be encrypted too. BitLocker has been found to impact drive speed and performance in the past, but there is a far scarier aspect of it, and that is the possibility of data loss. Recently, a Reddit user, MorCJul, shared a bit of a rant about BitLocker Device Encryption and how it has seemingly led to the loss of data for many users. The post was headlined "Microsoft forces security on users, yet BitLocker is now the biggest threat to user data on Windows 11," and it has been overwhelmingly upvoted by users with nearly 550 upvotes at the time of writing. The user says: The Redditor raises a very valid point here, that for most general folks, like the ones who don't read Neowin daily or aren't tech savvy enough or are unaware of all this, can be completely stumped if anything goes wrong with how Microsoft has set up the Windows 11 24H2 BitLocker situation, because they will have no idea that their device was ever encrypted or about keeping the key safe. Hopefully, Microsoft can find a better way to handle this situation so that the general user can be more easily alerted to the dangers of BitLocker. In the meantime, there is an official guide on the topic of backup and recovery of BitLocker keys. Users are advised to bookmark this article as it can come in very handy. We also published a guide on how users can use the Registry to disable BitLocker encryption during the OS setup. You can bookmark this article, too. If you are already on Windows 11 24H2, you can also head over to the Settings app to choose whether or not you want to keep BitLocker enabled (image above). Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Users of Google Drive are reporting disappearing files from their account. Some reporting to have lost 6 months of data. Google claims to be looking into it. Google Drive, also known as GDrive, is among the most used online backup, file cloud storage and synchronization service out there. To understand the scale of Google Drive, one has to see how many users it has. In 2018, TechCrunch reported that it had hit 1 billion active users. That means about 1 in 7 people in this world uses it. We believe its numbers might have only increased further since then. The reason for its popularity is simple. GDrive gives 15GB of space for free for every Google account. It’s built-in and integrated with Gmail. It syncs your files on the go, providing an excellent backup service. Not to forget, it comes pre-installed on all Android phones, which contributes to its high usage. But like every service, Google Drive too can have issues. Looks like it is going through one right now. Google Drive Users Reporting Disappearing Files About six days ago, a South Korea based user reported (via Tom’s Hardware and The Register) an issue of data loss on the Google support forums. The user reported that the files on his / her Google Drive account have disappeared. Not only that, the folder structure of the account has gone back to what it was in May this year. Even data made after May seems to have disappeared. The user mentions how it was unlikely for these files to be deleted as there were no files in the trash folder and he / she is the sole user of the account. The user mentions how he / she contacted Google support in South Korea, who tried to help to recover the files, but that didn’t work. Then the user contacted different places at Google and none of them were able to fix it. In that post, many others too have chipped in. Other users too are reporting the same problems. One user said how they have lost months of data since May. Another user mentioned how a person in their organization too seems to have lost files in their Google Drive desktop since May. Later, more and more users are coming ahead and reporting the same issue. One user reported that again, their files up till May have disappeared. Another user reported that 3 months of their files, folders and even activity logs have disappeared. Since then, the original post has gotten more and more users reporting the same issue. Google Responds And A Temporary Fix Two days ago, one user mentioned that he / she has gotten a reply from Google. The Google representative has acknowledged the issue, understanding that multiple admins are reporting it and Google is currently looking into the root cause of it. In another reply from the same user, Google support has advised users to not make any changes to the root folder of the Google Drive. Hoping that a solution to this issue will be found soon this week. Meanwhile, another user has posted a lengthy temporary fix for this issue on desktop. Worth checking out if those files are very important for you. This is while everyone waits for Google to fix this issue from their side. So far, at the time of writing this article, 179 users on the original post have agreed that they have the same issue. Which might seem small, but not everyone reports or knows the issue until they specifically check it. Nor would everyone know about the post on Google support forums. Our Opinion – Have More Backups Honestly, this issue doesn’t seem to be files getting deleted, it seems more about files getting disappeared. In all likelihood, the files are still there, but only disappeared due to some bug. However, this issue exposes the limitations on relying too much on online services, especially online storage services, without extra backup. Nothing can replace a good physical storage backup. So we suggest everyone to follow a good backup policy where they have at least two backups of their important files, one online and one on a physical media which is different from the storage found inside their computer. So backing up important files on external devices is recommended in addition to using online services such as Google Drive and others. Source

If you have checked your Google Drive file storage account over the last few days, and you can't find some or all of your files, you are not alone. As reported by The Register, a number of users of Google's cloud-based storage service have stated over the past few days their files have mysteriously disappeared. Some of those users posted about their issues with the service on the Google Support forums. One of the people who was affected, who is from South Korea, stated: The same person reported these issues to Google support. Some attempts to bring back the files, including using a recovery program, have failed so far. Similar messages have also been posted by other Google Drive users. So far, this issue appears to only affect Google Drive customers who access the service on the desktop app. It does not seem to affect people who use the Google Drive website or its mobile apps. The latest update on this issue on the support forums, which reportedly came from a Google team member, was posted earlier this morning. It stated: We will update this post as more information on this issue, and a possible fix, is revealed. Source

Google Drive users are reporting that recent files stored in the cloud have suddenly disappeared, with the cloud service reverting to a storage snapshot as it was around April-May 2023. Google Drive is a cloud-based storage service that allows people to store and access files from any internet-connected device via their Google account. It is a widely used service by individuals and businesses (as part of Google Workspace). A trending issue reported on Google's support forums starting last week describes a situation where people say they lost recent data and folder structure changes. "There is a serious issue here that needs to escalate urgently. We have a support ticket open, this has not been helpful to date," said a Google Drive user on the support thread. "I pay extra each month to store folders in the cloud so that it is safe, so it is devastating that all my work appears to have been lost," another Google Drive user posted. The activity logs on impacted accounts do not show any recent changes, confirming that the users themselves didn't accidentally delete them. Overall, there are no indications of a user error but rather a problem with the service's system that prevented the synchronization of data between the local devices and Google Cloud at some point. Some users have offline caches that might contain the missing data, but no known method exists to restore access to the data within them. Google's volunteer support agents have posted an alleged response from Google's support engineers that confirms they are already investigating the issue. However, an estimate for a fix hasn't been provided yet. The recommendation for those affected is to avoid making changes to the root/data folder until the situation clears up and the root cause of the problem is determined. Understandably, many users are frustrated by the loss of critical data they entrusted to the cloud-based service and, in many cases, paid for the hosting of their files. A notable aspect of the situation is that Google's support forums are backed by volunteers with limited insight or understanding of the cloud service, so the lack of effective assistance in critical problems like this makes it all the worse. BleepingComputer has contacted Google for an update on the status of the internal investigation and whether the lost files are recoverable or irreversibly lost, but we have not received a response by publication time. In this situation, Google Drive users should refrain from changing their cloud storage as it might complicate the recovery process. Instead, your best bet would be to contact Google Support, open a new case, and monitor for official updates. Until the problem is resolved, it would be more prudent to backup important files locally or use a different cloud service. Source