controversial new Windows 11

Microsoft unveiled the future of personal computing this week with the introduction of the Copilot+ PC, a new system concept powered by artificial intelligence. Following the success of Copilot in Windows 11, which was based on the same model as ChatGPT, Microsoft has done the rest, releasing a platform powered by Qualcomm ARM processors and new laptops from brands like Surface and Samsung.

Copilot+ PC devices will be able to take full advantage of Windows 11 AI capabilities, including exclusive features. And while there are some very striking ones, such as a helper for playing Minecraft, the most talked about is “Recall”, a feature capable of remembering everything we did on the computer.

Remembering works by doing screenshot every three seconds, constantly and in the background; Artificial intelligence is able to recognize what we are doing and record important events. This way you can answer questions related to what we’ve been up to lately.

For example, we can ask Copilot about a WhatsApp conversation we had a few days ago, and the system will automatically understand what we are talking about and remind us what we said. You can also remember that recipe that we saw on the site and now want to cook, or restore that photo that we deleted because we thought it wasn’t that important. Finally, Recall allows you to “travel into the past”reopening open applications at any time.

There is no denying that the potential of this technology is enormous and that This could be the star app of Copilot+ for PC. this forces many people to buy a new computer. It is equally true that this application may be the one that will convince many users to ditch Windows forever and buy a MacBook. There are those who are even thinking about switching to Linux. The Recall feature will be enabled by default on new Copilot+ PCs, and this may turn off many users.

No one can escape this To recap, it has the potential to be the biggest privacy disaster in history. calculations. An app that takes screenshots of all the programs we open? An AI that knows absolutely everything we’ve done on the computer? Without context, this is so funny that it seems like a bad joke.

Is Microsoft going to spy on me?

First of all, it is necessary to clarify a very important point: Recall only works on new Copilot+ computers, not on current computers.. Therefore, there is no need to fear that Windows will update and suddenly start saving everything we do; This is because Recall requires an NPU (neural processing unit) found in the new chips used in the latest computers.

The good news is that Microsoft has recognized the malicious potential of this technology. The bad thing is that this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. To begin with, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has said time and time again that Recall only works locally; that is does not send data to Microsoft serversas well as other functions such as assistant co-pilot.

All data associated with the review is stored in the computer’s own memory; This includes automatically captured screenshots and information received. This personal information is also encrypted using Bitlocker, but only in Pro versions of Windows 11. Screenshots are only associated with the computer’s local user account and cannot be shared or accessed with other computer users. Finally, Microsoft cannot access the data and these They will not be used to serve personalized advertising..

Although the Memory feature will be enabled by default, you can turn it off at any time in Settings. Not only that, we will have very precise control that will allow us do not register programs that we want to keep secret. Recall also won’t work with Edge browser incognito windows and won’t be able to record content with DRM (copy protection) like Netflix.

All of these security measures are welcome, but Microsoft itself has warned that they should not be trusted 100%, especially since Recall does not “perform moderation functions.” It means that all our personal data will be stored as is, and they will be displayed on the screen when we use Recall; something that could become a problem if someone looks at our monitor or if they manage to gain access to our account (for example, if we haven’t set a Windows login password).

Question of trust

As we can see, Microsoft has taken steps to prevent Recall from being used to spy on us; and especially so as not to create the impression that he is going to spy on us. But at the end of the day, it’s a matter of trust: do you trust Microsoft to tell the truth? Or rather, do you believe that Microsoft didn’t make a mistake in implementing Recall that could be used maliciously?

If you’re one of the 73.5% of people who use Windows on their computer (according to Statcounter), you’re already confident that Microsoft isn’t spying on you. The company would like it to be very easy, and it doesn’t need a feature like Recall to do that; Windows already runs many closed-source background processes whose exact functions most people don’t know. The real question is Yes, feedback can be abusedbe it Microsoft or hackers, in which case, until it is released and tested by security experts, we will not know.

Interestingly, the biggest controversy about Recall, and the one that can actually harm the user, is not related to privacy, but to performance. Microsoft has already warned about this Reminder will require a lot of storage space to save screenshots.

On a computer with 256 GB of memory, Recall will consume 25 GB, which will save 3 months of computer use; If we have 512 GB, it will occupy 75 GB and if we have 1 TB or more, it will occupy 150 GB. These values ​​can be changed, but they can never go below 10 GB. It is also unknown whether there is a service that constantly records what we do. will affect the operation of the computer and whether this will cause it to “block” more or slow down, we won’t know until we try.