Microsoft's controversial 'Recall' feature is getting a second chance
Microsoft has announced plans to reintroduce a modified version of its Recall feature to Windows Insider PCs in October. The tech giant made this announcement through an update on the company's blog post about the Recall controversy. However, it did not provide specific details about the changes being made to Recall beyond what was previously disclosed in June.
Understanding the recall feature
Recall is a Windows service that operates in the background on compatible PCs. It continuously captures screenshots of user activity, scans these images using optical character recognition (OCR), and stores both the OCR text and screenshots in a large searchable database on your PC. The primary objective of this feature is to assist users in retracing their steps and retrieving information about past activities conducted on their PCs.
Security concerns led to recall's initial rollout delay
The initial controversy surrounding Recall stemmed from security concerns. Other users on the same PC or attackers with physical or remote access could easily view or export those screenshots and the OCR database, as none of this information was encrypted at rest or adequately protected. These security issues led to a delay in its planned launch as a key feature of Microsoft's Copilot+ PC launch in July, alongside new Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Surface devices.
Microsoft's measures to enhance Recall's security
In response to the security concerns, Microsoft has announced several changes to enhance Recall's security. The database will now be encrypted at rest and will require authentication (and periodic reauthentication) with Windows Hello before users can access it. Additionally, this feature will be off by default, a shift from the original plan of having it activated by default and requiring users to manually disable it in Settings.
Recall preview to be tested on PCs meeting Copilot+ requirements
When the Recall preview is released, Windows Insiders wishing to test it will need a PC that meets Copilot+ system requirements. These include a CPU with a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of processing at least 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS), 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Currently, the x86 builds of Windows for Intel and AMD processors do not support any Copilot+ features irrespective of whether the PC meets these requirements.
Functionality and privacy measures
The Recall feature is designed to help users undo accidental changes or errors made within the operating system. It tracks recent system modifications and allows users to revert to previous states with a few clicks. Microsoft asserts that all data capture and processing occurs locally on the device to protect privacy. The captured data won't be used to train Microsoft's AI models, and users will have the option to pause/delete data capture and exclude sensitive apps or websites.
