Microsoft’s AI chatbot will ‘recall’ everything you do on a PC

Because we all trust MS with our privacy and security...BIG smiley face goes here...

 

Yeah I think I will take a pass on this feature.

 

Will it help me figure out how to install Linux?

 

This calls for that sweet Dr. Evil (from Austin Powers) gif: How about no.
Mrk

 

The more I hear about this the worse it sounds. I have clients that are medical auditors. Sounds like a HIPAA violation in the making. Not to mention the general privacy issues this will be for everyone. As one video about this pointed out, online banking gets very dangerous with this. It sounds like it will need a new Copilot+ PC. I'll never buy one. If they start rolling it out on standard PCs I will be dumping Windows.

 

Chris Titus did a video on it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmr2jF26sc

 

Microsoft shares more info about privacy controls in the new 'Recall' feature in Windows 11 - Neowin

 

Windows is used by the vast majority of government agencies worldwide - that's a lot of MS clients who will determine this vampire feature a privacy/security abomination.

Did MS really think this through?

I understand it is a pilot project & MS will determine it's viability based on customer feedback. Going well so far!

 

I really don't see who's asking for this kind of feature, or why it's really useful. Sure, I use my browser history on occasion, but not nearly often enough to justify using 25-50GB of drive space! (not counting performance lag.) I'm wondering where the demand for this kind of thing came from (other than showing up Apple's Time Machine?) that they'd invest so much into its development. One could say that progress is looking forward, not looking back... but, luckily my PC doesn't have the specs for it anyway.

 

Probably for Microsoft, PCs have an obligation to have artificial intelligence because humans lack natural intelligence.

 

So does Microsoft.

 

I predict that Windows users will complain, cry for a while then suck it up and continue to live in denial and use Windows.

As far as Microsoft plans go I predict actually more privacy at the begining (except beta channels etc, which is understandable). Then slowly changing terms of use for non-bussiness consumers: hiding privacy controls, uploading telemetry, crashdumps, finally some partial model data (watch the wording: it may be not considered as strictly user-inputted data, and as such not subjected to same protection that user data has).

 

That's likely correct, mostly due to a lack of drivers and 3rd party software to run an alternative OS.

 

My 5 yo Dell laptop works perfectly well with openSUSE. I mostly use browser(s), Obsidian (taking notes), KeePassXC, LibreOffice Calc, Thunderbird nowadays, in that order. Occasionally DarkTable to crop, resize pictures.
Since Netflix website is DRM-protected, especially anything above 720p requires specific OS + browser combination, I play it using app on Samsung phone on monitor via USB (Samsung DEX) + audio over bluetooth.

Since my work is done on employer-issued laptop (Windows), I don't really know what software would I need to run to justify tainting my personal Dell laptop with Windows, except being hardcore PC gamer.

 

In that situation there is nothing to stop you. If you need to do work also it certainly complicates it. Regardless of how compatible something like LibreOffice claims to be with Microsoft Office, we find that not to be the case. If one needs to use Outlook, you are just out of luck. On my Alienware laptop, I would lose a ton of functionality. As for my desktop, I may make the switch next year when both Windows 10 and Windows 11 23H2 go out of support.

 

You mean like second job? Like a freelance etc? Yep, it may be needed to use Windows then

I rarely use it to open Microsoft documents. I often use it to compare products: I might search to rent new flat in a month or two, so I have some old template (I created it in same software, so zero compatibility issues) with columns like price, location, duration of commute to certain places, etc, so everything is in one place before making final choice.

That being said in December last year I downloaded some free template created in Excel for government issued bond comparision: it worked. There were some visual glitches like text was slightly outside the column. Most importantly formula calculations returned correct results.
I understand it is not enough for professional use, but for personal use I can simply accomplish anything I need.

 

Yes, you're probably right. I think the idea behind this isn't bad, because sometimes I'm also having difficulties finding stuff on my PC, like PDF files and pictures. But I'm surprised they need to make constant screenshots in order for this feature to work. It would make more sense if it could simply scan a folder with files and make snapshots of those files. Because currently it's a major privacy risk, what stops them from uploading all this info to the cloud? Now that I think of it, SpyShelter is going to get real popular if it finds out a way to block this stuff.

 

My 10-year-old Asus transformer book has been running well (and faster!) with Mint Xfce. I mostly just run Chrome, Firefox, Seamonkey (all for different tasks), and LibreOffice. Netflix works fine in Firefox, my email is gmail so Chrome works fine for that, and Seamonkey mostly works for daily browsing (increasingly sites aren't working on it, though). And for my needs, so far LIbreOffice (Writer and Calc) has been working fine, even with complicated formula-laden spreadsheets (but I don't need exact formatting). It's not without glitches, but it works well enough for me that I plan to move my main laptop (thinkpad w530) over to Mint before Win10 runs out of support. I *can't* run Win11 on it officially anyway (too old), and don't care if I could run it with hacks, as I won't be moving to Win11+. It's just not for me anymore. (Sadly I have to stay apprised of it because of family members who still rely on Windows.)

Back on-topic, though, Recall is yet one more thing that is pushing me away from MS.

 

The more I think about it, the more stupid this MS Recall idea sounds. How didn't M$ foresee all of this backlash against it? This can become a major security and privacy problem if data falls in the wrong hands. It's basically built-in spyware.

https://doublepulsar.com/how-the-ne...ally-undermines-windows-security-aa072829f218

 

RECALL is insidious. It is disingenuous for MS to state that it is not a privacy issue & that security will be in the hands of the individual user.

Consider this: You care deeply about your privacy and security, so you disable RECALL on all your own systems. However, you can't account for EVERY other computer you've ever interacted with over time, for example, emails or files you have sent, say to a family member or close friend because they needed that info (documents, medical, etc). If they have not also disabled RECALL on their system and they look up your old email/file, your data is now at risk from their system.

 

A tool that is paradoxical - it's supposed to help disorganized people somehow become organized. Fail. If you know how to sort your data, you don't need this. If you don't, you have a much bigger problem, and if anything, this tool will only promote further degeneration of the brain among the intended target population due to lack of synaptic stimulus that organization and planning foster.

If anything, Recall should HIDE your files randomly, so you have to exercise your mind, and learn how to sort data correctly.

Mrk

 

Exactly. I don't see how having 25GB of data to look back through would make it easier to find things.