After announcing Windows Recall as one of its main new features for Windows 11 In the new Copilot+ computers, Microsoft is having to face a cascade of criticism from users and companies for this function, designed to take screenshots of what appears on the computer’s screen every five seconds. From complaints about a possible violation of user privacy, to potential security problems if someone gains access to the computer, voices critical of the measure emerged from the moment of its announcement, and Microsoft has had no choice but to take action on the matter with several measures.
To begin with, Redmond has decided that Windows Recall will be disabled by default, and it will be the user who will have to activate it on their computer if they want to use it. The company has confirmed that it will make the change before the launch of the feature on June 18. Until now it was going to be activated by default. This has been assured by the Microsoft Windows Vice President Pavan Davuluriin a post on the subject.
It is not the only change that Microsoft is going to make in Windows Recall in response to the criticism received. In addition, they have announced that to activate Windows Recall it will be necessary for users to also activate Windows Hello, a security feature that requires users to access their accounts in the system through facial recognition, fingerprint recognition or by entering of a PIN. For a user to access their Recall history, they will need to use their chosen access credential in Windows Hello.
Apart from this, Microsoft has mentioned that it is adding “additional layers of data protection.” For example, Recall captures will only be decrypted and accessible after the user who took them identifies themselves. The database index used for trap searches will also be encrypted.
In the post in which these changes are mentioned, it is also stated They detail several security measures that were already included in Windows Recall, com that screenshots will only be available locally on the computer on which they were taken. It is also emphasized that when the function is used, an icon appears on the taskbar of the desktop of the user who activated it. This way, if someone has had access to the equipment and activated it, they will be able to know.
