![]() ![]() The system must also rely on passive cooling when in Connected Standby mode, even if it normally uses a fan.Īs of this writing, there are very, very few systems out there that can tick all of these boxes. Connected Standby comes with its own set of hardware requirements, including a solid-state boot volume, NDIS 6.30 support for all network interfaces, and memory soldered to the motherboard.Note that Connected Standby is similar in concept to Intel’s Smart Connect Technology, but Smart Connect support does not imply Connected Standby support. Your smartphone already does the same sort of thing. Connected Standby allows a sleeping system to wake up periodically and refresh certain data, like e-mail messages or calendar events. Hardware and firmware support for Windows’ Connected Standby feature. ![]() The feature requires TPM 2.0, and most current devices use TPM 1.2. Support for the Secure Boot feature, which implies both UEFI support and 64-bit Windows.Here are the hardware features the passive device encryption feature needs to work: For Windows 8 systems that are being sold right this very minute (and for Windows 8.1-compatible systems that have been sold for the last several years), stringent hardware and firmware requirements will usually prevent them from supporting it. What you need (or, your hardware probably doesn’t support this)Ī year or two from now, this invisible-to-the-user, always-available encryption option will probably be on most new Windows laptops and tablets. OS X (to pick a prominent example) offers built-in disk encryption to all Macs via FileVault, and we’re glad to see the feature slowly trickling down to the consumer-oriented Windows editions. The nice thing about the automated device encryption (beyond the “automated” part) is that it extends to every edition of Windows 8.1, where BitLocker is a Pro- or Enterprise-tier feature in Windows 8 and an Ultimate- and Enterprise-tier feature in Windows 7 or Vista. If someone were to steal the device from you, though, they wouldn’t be able to get at any of your information without your account password or your encryption key, which in this case is protected by your account password. This encryption is essentially invisible during normal use-you pick up the tablet, log in, and use it just as you would an unencrypted PC. Rather than requiring a user or system administrator to enable it, your device’s boot partition comes encrypted out of the box. Windows 8.1’s new device encryption treats your x86-based Windows tablet or laptop more like an ARM-based tablet or smartphone. Windows 8.1 finally brings this to x86 tablets and Ultrabooks in a feature Microsoft calls “ device encryption.” While it has very specific hardware requirements, the feature is designed to improve local security for Windows users without them ever needing to know about it. These operating systems can all assume that the underlying hardware supports encryption, so they enable it by default in a way that’s entirely seamless and invisible to you as you use your phone or tablet day to day. However, some mobile devices-including those running iOS, Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT-don’t require users to take device encryption into their own hands. Once enabled, it protects the data on your device from being accessed by someone who walks away with it. Like the FileVault feature in newer versions of OS X or the “encrypt device” feature on many Android phones and tablets, you usually need to enable BitLocker manually to take advantage of it. Since Windows Vista, the upper-tier editions of Windows have supported local disk encryption via a feature called BitLocker Drive Encryption. Hands-on with the Windows “Blue” desktop experience.Windows 8.1 includes seamless, automatic disk encryption-if your PC supports it.Review: In Windows 8.1, Mail is finally usable on tablets and desktops.Windows 8.1: What a difference a year makes.Windows 8.1 Music and Video: More playing music, less hard selling.Andrew Cunningham reader comments 99 Windows 8.1
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