Microsoft Recall is a new AI-powered tool for Windows 11 that allows users to search and retrieve anything they’ve seen or done on their PC, functioning like a personal historian. It logs activities across apps, tracks communications in meetings, and remembers websites visited, all accessible through an explorable timeline interface.
It does so by taking screenshots every few seconds, analyzing them with AI help, and making the data searchable using natural language. And here is where Big Brother became outright creepy for me.
This feature was supposed to be only in the Copilot+ PCs, but this week, it mysteriously showed in non-Copilot+ PCs. For the time being, if you are concerned about privacy, you can disable it with a few commands. Keep in mind that Microsoft may automatically enable it with any of their monthly updates.
Open a command prompt with Administrator privliges.
To check if Recall is enabled on your PC, type the following:
dism /online /get-featureinfo /featurename:recall
You will get the following result:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.1150
Image Version: 10.0.26100.2033
Feature Information:
Feature Name : Recall
Display Name : Recall
Description : Recall application.
Restart Required : Possible
State : Enabled
To turn off Recall on your PC, type the following:
dism /online /disable-feature /featurename:recall
You will get the following result:
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.1150
Image Version: 10.0.26100.2033
Disabling feature(s)
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.