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This is not an official Microsoft website, but a resource created to explain the privacy and security implications of Microsoft Recall. This website is hosted by Google, but is not affiliated with Google.
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What is Microsoft Recall?
What is Microsoft Recall?
Microsoft Recall is a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that takes snapshots of your Microsoft Windows screen every few seconds. These screenshots are encrypted and stored locally on your PC. Recall catalogues these screenshots and uses on-device AI to read the contents of each screenshot. The text and images are indexed, so that you can search through the contents and "recall" something you have previously viewed.
However, there are many security and privacy concerns, including storing highly sensitive data like credit card numbers and passwords, and capturing other users information -- even those who aren't Microsoft Windows users (think: Zoom attendees who are talking to or screen sharing with a Microsoft Windows user).
Initial Microsoft Recall view on Windows 11
Privacy Concerns
Privacy Concerns
Post from @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange
Microsoft Recall captures screenshots your PC every few seconds, uses optical character recognition (OCR) to convert the screenshots to text, and produces a searchable database of everything you’ve ever viewed or ever written on your computer. These screenshots are encrypted, then stored locally on your computer. The idea is for Recall to be an artificial intelligence (AI) driven "photographic memory" that provides data to you in a searchable timeline-like interface.
Microsoft originally "recalled" Recall when security experts found glaring, obvious holes that let any user with access to the PC read what was collected. Even though Microsoft claimed that Recall would not store sensitive data, it was very clear that the system easily and indiscriminately captured bank accounts, social security numbers, or any other sensitive information. As of April 2025, this still appears to be happening.
Thankfully, now users will be able to choose whether to enable or disable Recall the first time they startup their device with the new update. To disable it, you must search for “Turn Windows features on or off” in the Windows 11 taskbar and uncheck "Recall".
Keep in mind, even if you never decide to use and enable Recall, you'll have no control over what any other Microsoft Windows user do. That means anything you share with them will be collected and processed with optical character recognition and Copilot AI, and then stored in an indexed database on someone else's computer. So sensitive material including photos, passwords, medical records, [otherwise] secure messages, and Zoom/Teams/WebEx/etc. meetings will all be sucked up on someone else's PC.
How to remove/disable Microsoft Recall
How to remove/disable Microsoft Recall
Option 1a - Windows Settings
Option 1a - Windows Settings
Navigate to Settings (or press Windows + I).
Choose Privacy & Security > Recall & Snapshots, and toggle off the Save Snapshots option.
Note: You can also uninstall it by going to Control Panel > Turn Windows features on or off, unchecking Recall, and restarting your computer.
Option 1b - Windows Settings
Option 1b - Windows Settings
Navigate to Settings (or press Windows + I).
Select Privacy & Security from the left sidebar.
Scroll down to find and click on Activity History.
You’ll see an option labeled Let Windows collect my activity from this PC. Uncheck this option to disable Recall.
Option 2 - Edit the Windows Registry
Option 2 - Edit the Windows Registry
Open Registry Editor by pressing Win + R to open the Run dialog. Type regedit and hit Enter.
Before doing ANYTHING ELSE, back up the registry before making any changes. Click on File, then Export. Save that file somewhere you can easily find it.
Navigate to path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
Create/Modify the DWORD: In the right pane, right-click and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it DisableProductivity and set its value to 1.
Restart your computer to ensure this value takes effect.
Option 3 - Group Policy Editor
Option 3 - Group Policy Editor
Coming soon!
Option 4 - PowerShell
Option 4 - PowerShell
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "Recall"
Option 5 - Command Prompt
Option 5 - Command Prompt
Dism /online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"Recall"
References
References
Google Sites
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