Microsoft explains how Windows 11s controversial Recall feature is now ready for release its coming to Copilot+ PCs in November

Date:
Sun, 29 Sep 2024 10:42:16 +0000

Description:
Youll be getting Recall in November, if you want it and Microsoft has made a lot of changes on the security front.

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Microsoft has provided an update on Windows 11s Recall feature which has
been on ice for some time now , since its revelation caused a massive stir
due to security and privacy worries and when it plans to forge ahead with
the feature and bring it to Copilot+ PCs.

As the BBC reports, Microsoft said in a statement that the plan is to launch Recall on CoPilot+ laptops in November, with a bunch of measures being implemented to ensure the feature is secure enough detailed in a separate
blog post .

So, what are these measures designed to placate the critics of Recall a capability which is a supercharged AI-powered search in Windows 11 that leverages regular screenshots (snapshots as Microsoft calls them) of the activity on your PC as it was originally envisioned?

One of the key changes is that Recall will be strictly opt-in, as Microsoft had told us before , as opposed to the default-on approach that was taken
when the feature was first unveiled.

Microsoft notes: During the set-up experience for Copilot+ PCs, users are given a clear option whether to opt-in to saving snapshots using Recall. If a user doesnt proactively choose to turn it on, it will be off, and snapshots will not be taken or saved. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Also, as Microsoft previously told us, snapshots and other Recall-related data will be fully encrypted, and Windows Hello authentication will be a requirement to use the feature. In other words, youll need to sign in via Hello to ensure that its you actually using Recall (and not someone else on your PC).

Furthermore, Recall will use a secure environment called a Virtualization-based Security Enclave, or VBS Enclave, which is a fully
secure virtual machine isolated from the Windows 11 system, that only the
user can access with a decryption key (provided with that Windows Hello sign-in).

David Weston, who wrote Microsofts blog post and is VP of Enterprise and OS Security, explained to Windows Central : All of the sensitive Recall processes, so screenshots, screenshot processing, vector database, are now in a VBS Enclave. We basically took Recall and put it in a virtual machine [VM], so even administrative users are not able to interact in that VM or run any code or see any data.

For that matter, Microsoft cant get in to look at your Recall data, either. And as the software giant has made clear before, all this data is kept
locally on your machine none of it is sent to the cloud (that could be a big security worry if it was). This is why Recall is a Copilot+ PC exclusive, by the way because it needs a powerful NPU for acceleration and local
processing for Recall to work responsively enough (as the cloud cant be leveraged to speed up the AI grunt work).

Finally, Microsoft combats a previous concern about Recall taking screenshots of, for example, your online banking site and perhaps sensitive financial
info the feature now filters out things like passwords, credit card numbers and so on.

Other privacy tightening measures include the ability to exclude specific
apps or websites from ever having snapshots taken by Recall (and we should note that private browsing sessions, such as Chromes Incognito mode, are
never subject to being screenshotted at least in supported web browsers).

An icon will appear in the taskbar when a Recall snapshot is being saved, incidentally, and itll be easy to pause these screenshots from there if you wish to do so. (Image credit: Microsoft) Analysis: Recalled from the bench - but with a lot to prove

Microsoft has basically taken Recall back to the drawing board on the
security and privacy fronts over the past few months, and in broad terms, the results deserve a thumbs-up. (Although lets be honest, elements like the
tight encryption should have been in place to begin with and its a bit frightening that they werent).

If youre still concerned about Recall despite these measures, you simply dont have to enable it. And with it being off by default in a clear manner now, theres no danger of less tech-savvy folks ending up using the feature by accident, without realizing what it is.

The path Recall is on now is that its returning to testing in October, so
very soon, and with the release coming to Copilot+ PCs in November, its on something of a fast track to arrive with the computing public well, those whove invested in a Copilot+ laptop anyway. Were sure that for those folks, Recall will still be marked as in preview and its debatable whether you
should be taking the plunge with an ability like this when its not quite
fully finished.

Of course, were getting a bit ahead of ourselves here the next step is for Recall to arrive in Windows 11 test builds, and see what Windows Insiders
make of it. If problems crop up in those preview builds, we may yet see
Recall delayed for release to Copilot+ PCs.

Microsoft is talking a much bigger security game for Recall here, without a doubt, and lets hope there are no setbacks or mistakes in terms of actually implementing all of this. Given how the initial incarnation of Recall was put together with a worrying lack of attention to detail its easy to be cynical here, but presumably Microsoft is not going to fall into this trap again. You might also like... My week so far with Copilot+ PC laptops: they might be the future, but not for the reasons Microsoft wants I've been using Google Search for 25 years and AI overview is the one thing that could ruin it for me Dont make these 5 big mistakes when using Windows 11



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-explains-how-windows-11s -controversial-recall-feature-is-now-ready-for-release-its-coming-to-copilot-p cs-in-november


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