I was trying to play Valorant but was unable to because Riot doesn't allow you to play it if secure boot is off. I've played it on my laptop, which means it has to be on, but before I turn it on on my new desktop, just wanted to be sure it's nothing bad and won't harm my computer
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How does secure boot work?
When you power on your device, secure boot checks the digital signatures of the bootloader and operating system. If the signatures are valid and match the trusted keys stored in the system, the boot process continues. If not, secure boot halts the process to protect against tampering.
Can I disable secure boot?
In most cases, you can disable secure boot in your system's unified extensible firmware interface/ basic input output system (UEFI/BIOS) settings. However, doing so is not recommended unless you have a specific reason, as it exposes your system to potential security risks. Disabling secure boot may allow unauthorized code to run during the boot process.
Why are secure boots important?
Secure boots are crucial for protecting your system from malware and unauthorized software. By verifying the integrity of the boot process, it creates a secure foundation for the operating system, reducing the risk of attacks that could compromise your data and system stability.
What is secure boot (trying to install windows 11) but will secure boot change the normal life of me gaming on my pc, will it change how I use my pc, is windows 11 okay for a gamer
The answer depends on how much of a conspiracy nut you are.
The technology is able to stop rootkits taking hold in critical parts of the filesystem, but the same technology can be used to prevent loading an "unapproved" Operating system - where Unapproved is defined by the maker of the system, not the owner of it.
I believe that (at the moment) Secureboot can be disabled in the BIOS and any system can be booted. It is, however, possible that a manufacturer could remove the functionality to disable Secureboot [ Maybe a big OS provider throws money at them ], which could limit what can be done with it.
To have a look at "What is possible", consider Smartphones. Some [ like Google and Samsung branded phones ] can load any version of Android - eg supported by Cyanogenmod, while others are locked into the OS which they came with and can't be upgraded - I believe LG do this, and Motorola used to do this (My wife had a Motorola which can't be upgraded from an ancient 2.x version of Android - forced obsolescence - I do note its possible Motorola have changed as they are now owned by Google). Anyway Locked bootloaders are commonplace in Cellphones, so if you are looking at the impacts, it might be a useful place to draw an analogy from.
The entire point is the "chain of trust" it creates. If I have a piece of software that I need to make sure that nothing malicious can intercept what I am doing and put their own code in I need to trust the program launching my program. To trust that program that launched my program, you need to trust the program that launched the program that launched my program, and so on and so on.
What Secure boot provides is a anchor for that first "trusted program". It allows the hardware on the computer to assert "No one has modified this bootloader and it will behave exactly like the original programmers programed". The boot-loader can then check "No one has modified this OS and it will behave exactly like the original programmers programmed". Then the OS can go "No one has modified this program and it will behave exactly like the original programmers programmed" and now you have a "trusted path" from your program all the way down to the physical hardware running the machine all verifying that nothing got in the way that could intercept or modify the behavior of your code.
Now what the Bootloader, OS, or program itself does with that chain of trust is entirely up to the company. The Bootloader could chose to only boot OS's from a specific vendor and you could not prevent that. The OS could choose to only allow software to run that was authorized to run (this is what Windows 8 RT does via the App Store) and you could not. The program could implement some from of DRM and you would not have a way to bypass it.
It is all up to the vendor of the software on how to use Secure Boot.