Microsoft is working on a new feature for Windows 11 called “Recall” that will take snapshots of your screen every few seconds and save them to your device. These snapshots will be easily searchable using natural language, so you can ask it questions like “show me every message where I discussed Canadian maple syrup Futures” and it will be able to find them for you.
What is Microsoft Windows 11 Recall
Recall is intended to be a feature on PCS that Microsoft is labeling with co-pilot plus branding not to be confused with just co-pilot the windows AI assistant that has already been out for a while co-pilot plus PCS must have 16 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage.
Also importantly have to have an npu rated for at least 40 trillion operations per second right now there aren’t any current consumer grade x86 CPUs out there that include an npu this powerful by comparison current Intel and AMD products are capable of less than half of the number of operations this means the first product certified for co-pilot plus will instead be laptops that contain Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X+ chips which are arm-based and will serve as something of a competitor to the M series chips found in Apple devices.
Although there has already been one tinkerer who has gotten at recall working on Lower spec systems that don’t have an npu most folks will either need to buy one of these new laptops which will be out later this month or wait until late 2024 when the 24 H2 update drops for x86 PCS and when we’re expecting to see CPUs from Intel and AMD that feature compatible npus are you looking forward to having a search feature this powerful or does it seem too creepy for you to be interested let me know down in the comments.
It is possible to exclude certain programs and web browsers from Recall, but it is unclear if this will be possible for all programs. Microsoft is also planning to release a version of Recall for x86 PCs later this year, but these PCs will need to have an NPU that is rated for at least 40 trillion operations per second. There are currently no consumer-grade x86 CPUs that meet this requirement.
My article takeaway
Overall, Recall is a potentially useful feature, but it also raises some privacy concerns. It is important to weigh the benefits and risks carefully before deciding whether or not to use it. I also write about Adobe Acrobat problems and the Top 3 Adguard alternatives that could be helpful in blocking unwanted ads.
