How to Turn Off Calling in Windows 11
One of the ways Microsoft is promoting artificial intelligence in Windows 11 is with a new feature called Recall. This feature, available only on Copilot+ PCs , essentially takes screenshots of your display every few seconds, allowing you to search images using AI to “recall” specific information. It sounds useful, but it’s also dangerous: if you don’t want Windows to record almost everything you do on your computer, you can disable this feature.
Why you might want to disable Recall
Recall sounds like a cool feature on paper, but there are legitimate security concerns for all users. Although this feature stores screenshots and their information on the device, it will not ultimately stop attackers from accessing those screenshots if they somehow get into your system. Screenshots are encrypted when your computer is locked, but you decrypt them when you log in, so if someone hacks into your computer—either locally with your credentials or remotely using software—they can gain access and steal your revocation information .
Essentially, you’re storing a treasure trove of almost everything you do on your computer, including exposed passwords, financial data, sensitive company information, and private messages. While there are some restrictions on what Recall records, including any apps and sites you choose to block, you leave yourself vulnerable to data theft on everything personal you do on your computer. You can learn more about Recall’s huge security risks here .
How to turn off Reminder
If you want to take advantage of the other AI features that Microsoft offers on your Copilot+ PC, but aren’t comfortable with the operating system recording everything you do, you can turn off the Replay feature by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Replay and pictures . From here, turn off the Save Snapshots option. This will prevent Windows from storing these snapshots on your system. If you already have screenshots that you want to delete, you can use the “Delete Snapshots” feature under this option.
However, you don’t need to disable Recall to make it safer to use: From this same settings page, you can select specific apps and websites for Recall to avoid moving forward. However, Microsoft notes that these filters will only work in supported browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome. On the other hand, if you want, you can disable Recall for entire browsers.
The technology company also says that Recall will not store data about private online activity when using Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome or other Chromium-based browsers, and content protected by digital rights management (DRM) will not be captured. , either.
Microsoft says it will explain the new feature when setting up a Copilot+ PC for the first time and will give users the option to open recovery settings after setup to manage and disable the feature. However, it would be nice if you could disable Recall from the start: you won’t have to dig through the settings after the fact to disable it.