For as much as Microsoft initially lauded its “photographic memory” Recall feature on Copilot+ PCs, the tech giant is now putting a lot of effort into telling customers all the ways they can not use it. Microsoft now says users who first open their Windows 11 PCs will have the chance to turn it off and later delete it entirely. Even during regular use, you’ll have the option to flip a switch and turn it off if you don’t want your computer screenshotting everything you do.
Windows beta users are still waiting to get their hands on the feature in October. On Friday, Microsoft’s VP of OS security, David Weston, shared the company’s most detailed explanation of how Recall will work. When first setting up a Copilot+ PC, one of the new splash screens will offer a chance to hit “Yes, save” or “No, don’t save” for the “photographic memory” Recall feature. More than that, if you want the software off your PC, you can remove it by going into the “Optional Features” settings in Windows 11.
Even when Recall is turned on, users have a few more options to stop it from auto-screenshotting everything they do. With Recall on, users can pause saving screenshots with an icon in the system tray. There more options to delete a full-time range or specific content labeled from a specific app or website inside Recall itself.
The Redmond, Washington tech giant reiterated the feature won’t screenshot when using incognito-type privacy modes in Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Opera. Recall is further limited by content filtering. The system looks for keywords in the screengrabs and then deletes them, but it still might miss something. Weston mentioned this will “reduce” the amount of sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers captured and stored on your PC. You can also list specific apps and websites to block from screengrabs. Non-Chrome Chromium-based browsers will block private browsing, but they don’t allow you to block specific websites.
There are two aspects of what data Recall collects. One is the saved snapshots, but the other is the “semantic index” of AI-generated text descriptions of those images. The semantic index is how users can search through the screenshots with a simple text prompt. The initial controversy with Recall was centered on how this data was originally stored on users’ PC. Security experts pointed out that the AI-generated text descriptions for the screenshots were initially stored unsecured, so anybody with direct or remote access to the PC could grab them. Now, all the screenshots and “associated data” are supposed to be secured behind a biometric sign-in through Windows Hello Enhanced.
Beyond that, Weston detailed how the snapshots and associated text data are supposed to be secured through a VBS Enclave. It’s essentially a segment of the PC’s memory that’s cryptographically sealed. The Microsoft VP described it as a “locked box” where the only key is through Windows Hello sign-in. Not even kernel or administrator users can access those files.
According to Weston, those who have a good reason not to use biometric sign-in won’t be able to access Recall. Your login times out after a certain period of use, meaning you’ll need to use your biometrics to re-sign in. Windows Hello promises your biometric data is stored locally on the device.
Recall will only work on any PC that’s Copilot+ certified. That includes anything with the recent Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus and Elite chips, the recent AMD AI 300 series, and the most recent Intel Lunar Lake CPUs. There’s no word on when we can expect Recall’s full release after the initial Windows Insiders get to test it. Either it will arrive before Christmas, or we’ll have to wait until 2025.
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