Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 55 Chapter 2 Operating Systems transparency of the late 1990s. Th e downside to the attractive look and feel is that it used more system resources and video memory to run. It was common for users to disable the feature in exchange for performance. Th e Windows Aero feature was one of the main reasons a greater amount of RAM and a quality 3D graphics card or motherboard was required. Th e glass look and feel of Aero was phased out after Windows 7 and not included in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, much to the dismay of Aero fans. Another GUI feature phased out after Windows 7 is Gadgets. Gadgets were introduced in Windows Vista. Th ey were mini software programs that provided services, such as an online dictionary, clock, calendar, weather report, and CPU monitor. Gadgets were continued through Windows 7, but dropped for Windows 8 and later. Windows 10 has a similar basic look and feel to Windows 7 without the Aero styling and with the addition of the Tile-based Start menu from Windows 8. Windows 10 users see a look and feel infl uenced by Microsoft Fluent Design System created to establish common appearance and behavior across the OS and applications. Microsoft created UWP (the Universal Windows Platform) to sup- port implementation of Fluent Design standards. Drive Encryption BitLocker Drive Encryption is an encryption feature that is available as part of many versions of the Windows OS. Encryption is the process of rendering the contents of a fi le and folder unreadable by people other than those who hold the key and are allowed to read it. BitLocker diff ers from earlier versions of fi le encryption in that it encrypts the entire volume, including the system fi les required for startup and log- on, rather than just data fi les. BitLocker ensures that data remains encrypted even when the operating system is not running. For example, if someone removes a hard drive and then attempts to access the data from another computer using a diff erent operating system or software utility, BitLocker prevents the data from being accessed because the data remains encrypted. BitLocker is transparent to the user after it is activated. It is designed to be used with a computer that has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) or fi rmware that can read a USB fl ash drive. Th e TPM is a microchip designed to work with the BitLocker software. Th e TPM ensures that encryption is intact throughout the boot sequence of the computer. If the TPM is missing or has changed, the user is required to supply a password to access the encrypted data. If BitLocker is confi gured on a system that does not have a TPM, a startup key is required when it is fi rst confi gured. A typi- cal startup key is a software program loaded on a USB fl ash drive. Th e software pro- gram contains the encryption key used to access the encrypted drive. For Windows 7, BitLocker was a downloadable option. In Windows 10, it is a bundled option only available with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise editions. BitLocker To Go is an enhanced version of the BitLocker application that allows encryption of USB storage devices fi rst introduced in Windows 7. As the name im- plies, you can encrypt fi les on a USB drive, remove the drive, and take it to anoth- er computer. Microsoft provides the BitLocker To Go Reader as a free download. It allows the user to read the contents of the encrypted fl ash drive. BitLocker To Go, when enabled, is automatically added to the USB fl ash drive or storage media by default. Starting with Windows 10, the Used Space Only encryption feature allows removable devices to be encrypted in seconds rather than minutes in most cases. Th ere will be more discussion about BitLocker and BitLocker To Go in Chapter 15. Desktop Multimedia Support Windows Media Center was a collection of media manipulation utilities and tools that was part of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Windows Media Center is available 1002: 1.2, 1.6, 2.6, 2.8 1002: 1.2