If you're a Windows 11 user, and specifically an owner of a Microsoft Copilot+ PC that has the necessary AI processing power, you can now take advantage of Windows Recall. It works like a memory for your computer, using screenshots to keep track of everything you're doing on Windows, and then letting you search back through it.
The idea is to give you something like your web browsing history, but for the whole computer. If you remember an app, document, web page, or file you need to get to several hours or days later, Windows Recall can help. Thanks to Microsoft's Copilot AI, it can not only grab screenshots, but understand what's in them.
Windows Recall isn't the first tool to do this, but it has been met with a lot of criticism from a lot of users, who would rather their every computing move wasn't being recorded. Security researchers have also shown how it can be easily hacked.
So just how serious are those security and privacy concerns? And if you have Windows Recall on your PC, should you turn it on? Here's what you need to know.
How Windows Recall Works
You can filter out specific apps and websites from Recall. Courtesy of David Nield
It's fair to say the initial reaction to Windows Recall wasn't hugely positive: The problem with a memory for your PC is that other people might gain access to it, including staff at Microsoft—which potentially means those people are able to see your browsing history, your sensitive documents, your private messages, and potentially anything you looked at on your computer screen. The backlash was so strong that Microsoft pulled Recall for a while.