Is the Windows PIN sign-in option good protection in case of device theft? [duplicate]
I've been hearing stories about people suffering apartment break-ins. This made me think about what might be stolen from my apartment if something similar happened, and the desktop computer certainly seems like an attractive option.
My Windows 11 installation is currently protected using a 4-digit PIN. I already encrypt my hard drives with Bitlocker, and I wanted to switch to a password login, but turns out I can't disable the PIN since I'm using a Microsoft account to sign in.
It seems to me that Microsoft is doing this under the assumption that since you have to be physically at the computer to use the PIN, that means it's secure enough, and yes I suppose that if it's in an environment where the attacker can't try too many combinations before the user comes back then it's good enough, but in a theft scenario, the attacker has enough time to try to brute force the 4-digit PIN. Although annoying, it's certainly possible.
So my question is, how does the pin secure my data in a theft scenario given that the hard drives are encrypted? Does it require a password after failed number of logins? Is there something better I can switch to to protect my data from a computer theft scenario?
