Encrypt data, but don’t get rid of key
Q: I started my computer today and it popped up a screen asking me for my BitLocker Recovery Key and won't let me sign in until I provide this. How can I get rid of this message?
A: Windows has a builtin encryption feature called BitLocker which is designed to encrypt the data on your hard drive to prevent unauthorized access.
If you are seeing a message asking you for this information, it means that your computer has been encrypted and it is having trouble unlocking the drive and wants the recovery key before it can proceed. At the time you encrypted the drive, you should have been instructed to make a copy of the recovery key for safe keeping.
The options for saving this include placing a copy in your Microsoft online account, printing it or saving it to a file that you can store someplace for later retrieval.
You will need to find this key if you want to access your data.
If you do not have this recovery key, there is no way to access the data on your hard drive which means your data is lost, unless you have a backup.
Q: I am trying to send an email attachment to a friend and I get a return notice indicating that that my message exceeded Google’s message size limits. What does this mean and how can I fix it?
A:
Gmail limits file attachments to 25 megabytes. Other mail services may allow more or less.
In my opinion, 25 megabytes is a lot of data to be sending as an attachment.
If you find yourself in a position where you need to send someone a large file, consider compressing it if possible. T
If you have to send really large files, services like Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive will let you upload a file to their cloud service and provide a link that can be sent to the recipient to download the data you are sharing.