One of the advantages of Windows 7 and now Windows 8, is the ability to encrypt whole drives using BitLocker or BitLocker To Go. First of all, what is BitLocker?

• BitLocker provides disk drive encryption. When enabled BitLocker encrypts the entire disk. When adding new files to the disk those are immediately encrypted as well
• BitLocker can do this to both system and non-system drives
• BitLocker protects vital Windows system files during boot-up.
• BitLocker works with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security hardware, which is provided in some modern PCs
• When copying or moving files off of a BitLocker protected drive they are automatically decrypted

Alas, none of my PCs have a TPM, so one might think that this is a no-go option.

But, no – you can actually enable BitLocker on Windows 8, even on PCs without a TPM

In order to do this follow these few steps;

• Make sure you are logged on as an administrator
• Hit the Windows key and type gpedit.msc

• Hit enter and the Local Group Policy Editor comes up;

So far fans of HBO and its great TV shows living in the Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) have been forced to wait until shows like Game of Thrones would show up on our local cable or over-the-air channels. Which meant waiting at least some months, if not a full year after the show aired in the United States. The shows were of course easily available on other, not so legal channels, but that is a different story, Today I discovered some great news for Nordic fans of HBO. They are soon going to offer up a streaming service under the name HBONordic, a service that does not require you to be a cable subscriber, as you have to be in the US in order to get the US HBO streaming service HBO Go. Great news, so I of course immediately signed up on their new webpage in order to get more information as the launch date is getting closer. In their twitterfeed @HBO_no claims that the price will be less than 10 euros a month (approx 80 norwegian crowns). Can’t wait!

Update:

HBONordic and Samsung held a live press event at IFA today:

• HBONordic will offer HBO original content as well as TV-series and Movies from other providers
• Will deliver original broadcasting a few hours after US release
• Behind the scenes content
• Will be on all devices from day one: smart phones, tablets, PCs, gaming devices and TV
• Individual subscriptions (not household)
• Will deliver old fashioned TV through cable operators and on-demand internet services
• Price will be less than 10 euros in all Nordic countries for the complete service
• Samsung partners with HBONordics, and will provide HBONordic apps on their Smart TVs, and Samsung will also offer free trials of HBONordic on their smart phones and tablets.

Exciting news – and it will be interesting to see how this will shape up in the very near future!

In this screenshot-gallery I will show the process of doing a clean install of Windows 8. The process was done in a virtual machine on my desktop, and thus took longer than if I had done it on a real machine. I did a clean install on my sons laptop earlier today, and that process took approximately 15 minutes.