Consider your data security needs before deciding.
Consider your data security needs before deciding.
You could just get like Truecrypt and encrypt only some stuff without having to encrypt the entire drive and loose performance. Though, as mentioned above, it may be hard to recover data if your hdd where to crash. So make sure to back up properly (should be done anyways but...) EDIT: Yes, truecrypt doesn't have support anymore. Though, some security researchers checked it a while ago so it should be fine to use. And if it's only friends and family you want to keep out, it shouldn't an issue really. EDIT2: Here's a tutorial on how to encrypt a folder using Truecrypt. It was published in 2010 so there may be slightly different than now but should give you an idea of how to do it. Or this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDmIXpnONio EDIT3: And here is an article explaining it's secure (mostly).
I’m trying to keep my emails private, but I don’t want my parents to find them.
You're correct, my dad and brother work in IT and they managed to access my PC despite having a Windows password. They disabled parental controls, reformatted the drive, and reinstalled Windows, making it secure again.
I run BitLocker on all my computer's operating system drives using TPM. I don't understand what you're suggesting unless you're talking about HDDs, which could slow things down. I use an SSD instead. Just make sure to store your password in your MS account.
Log in using your Microsoft account. Upon entry, the system will request your password, which you can use to generate a separate guest account. For securing your hard drive, consider upgrading to Windows 10 and then turn on BitLocker to protect your data.