Microsoft is currently preparing a second version of its controversial AI-feature Recall. The company hopes to get it right this time.
A look back: When Microsoft announced the recall
A quick refresher. Microsoft unveiled the recall in May when it demonstrated the new CoPilot+ breed of PCs. The recall was a key feature of the CoPilot+ PCs.
The feature was on by default to take a screenshot of the entire screen every five seconds. Only a few apps were exempted from taking screenshots. Users could then interact with the recall feature to interact with the content.
Natural questions, like, what was the name of the website where I bought those cool shorts, were answered by AI. While this seemed useful to some, it seemed creepy to others.
It didn't help that the database Recall used wasn't properly secured. The fear of malware stealing the entire database and thus affecting user activity on the PC turned out to be real.
At the time, I said that Microsoft needed to make Recall opt-in. This would have meant that Recall wouldn't start taking screenshots immediately on all systems. Users who wanted to use it could enable it, with everyone else and their activities and data otherwise unaffected.
Microsoft withdrew the recall two weeks later and resumed work on the feature. The company announced that it would improve the security of the feature and consider other improvements as well.
Microsoft announced this month that it would release the recall in October. This time, it will not bypass development builds of Windows, but will launch the recall in Insider builds first. This decision prevents the recall from entering the system as part of the Windows 11 24H2 feature update.
Recall will be opt-in and you can uninstall it
Microsoft has already acknowledged that Recall will be launched as an opt-in feature. While it remains to be seen how Microsoft markets it, it is a good move.
Our colleagues Deskmodder It turns out that Recall can also be uninstalled from Windows. Until now, administrators could only block Recall or disable the feature by going into Settings.
Update KB5041865 for Windows 11 version 24H2 brings an option to remove it. This is done through the Installed Features window, not the Installed Apps settings page.
You can find it by typing Features when you open the Start menu. There you should see Recall listed as one of the features you can install or remove.
Note: Deskmodder operates from the European Union. It is unclear at this time if users in other regions will also be able to remove the recall from their Windows systems.
What is your opinion about Recall? Are you planning to use it or is it something you have no interest in? Feel free to comment below.
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