Windows 11 Introduces ‘Recall’: A Revolutionary Feature to Track Every PC Activity

Microsoft is set to revolutionize how users interact with their PCs with the introduction of ‘Recall,’ a new feature in Windows 11 that logs all user activities through periodic screenshots. This groundbreaking capability aims to provide users with a digital photographic memory, allowing them to search and access past activities on their computer using natural language queries.

Recall requires robust hardware to function correctly, including a PC equipped with Copilot+ specifications, featuring a 40 TOPs NPU, Snapdragon X chip, at least 16GB of RAM, and a minimum storage capacity of 256GB. Once enabled, the feature takes snapshots of all active windows at set intervals, creating a searchable index of every action taken on the device. This index includes detailed information from URLs, text content, and images, allowing users to quickly retrieve information from any point in their computer’s history.

To ensure privacy and security, all data captured by Recall is encrypted using Bitlocker and stored locally on the user’s device. The snapshots are not shared with other users or stored in the cloud, giving users complete control over their data. Users can manage what Recall captures by deleting specific snapshots, adjusting the recording time range, pausing the recording feature, or excluding certain apps and websites from being recorded.

Sensitive content, such as that viewed in Microsoft Edge’s InPrivate mode or DRM-protected materials, is automatically excluded from Recall. The feature is initially launching with support for multiple languages, including English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, with plans to add more languages over time.

Yusuf Mehdi of Microsoft emphasized the importance of user privacy and control with Recall, stating that the settings allow users to manage recording preferences directly from the System Tray on the Taskbar. Although powerful, this new feature does not moderate content, which means sensitive information like login credentials or personal banking details could be captured.

Recall is poised to enhance productivity and offer unprecedented access to historical data, making it effortless for users to track their digital interactions and retrieve important information.