Whether you love or hate Microsoft’s Copilot AI, there could be no escaping it soon as it has recently been spotted crawling around messaging apps, specifically Telegram. Microsoft seems to have sneakily introduced Copilot into the messaging app, allowing Telegram users to experience it firsthand.
According to Windows Latest, the move is part of a new project from Microsoft dubbed ‘copilot-for-social’, which is an initiative to bring generative AI to social media apps. The Copilot bot seems to currently work in Telegram in the US and UK (and possibly other regions). It’s available for free, although it requires your phone number to work.
(Image credit: Future)
You can find the bot by typing in ‘@CopilotOfficialBot’ into Telegram’s search bar, whereupon a new message thread will open and Copilot will give you the rundown of everything it can do. Keep in mind that there is a query limit of 30 questions a day, but given that you don’t need to create a separate account and it’s all completely free, that’s not a bad setup.
Copilot appears to work similarly to how you use it on a PC. The AI can also be used on the desktop, phone and web versions of Telegram.
Great, I hate it
From what we understand the reason why you need to verify your phone number to enable Copilot in Telegram is to stop people within the EU from gaining access (likely due to data regulations and stricter laws in that region). We’re sure in time that EU users will have the chance to try it out, but as of now, they’re going to have to wait.
Copilot may be exciting news to some, but others may not like the idea of an AI having access to their messaging app (there could be trust issues for some Telegram users, we’d imagine). Furthermore, this does give me flashbacks to Snapchat’s AI chatbot, a rather bizarre affair that died as quickly as it popped up.
It seems like generative AI chatbots are becoming harder and harder to escape, as Telegram surely will not be the end of Copilot’s mobile integration plans. Microsoft could also push for integration with WhatsApp, Messenger and more, which I would find unbearable frankly.
Hopefully, Microsoft will stick with the non-invasive setup that Copilot seems to have in Telegram, where you must actively seek it out, rather than having the AI shoved into your messages by default somehow.
A Microsoft Phone Link update may be in the works to make exchanging text between your phone and your PC a lot easier. In short, you’ll be able to select text in photos synced from your Android phone.
Phone Link is an app on your PC (also called Link to Windows on your phone) that allows you to sync your calls, messages, notifications, and images from your Android device onto your PC. It’s similar to how you’re able to sync much of your iPhone and its apps to your MacBook, so you can respond to messages and access photos you might need without having to pick up your phone.
The feature will use optical character recognition (OCR) to spot text within images and highlight them, so you’ll be able to copy the text over to a word processor, email, or text box. This is great news for those of us who hate having to type out important details and are looking for a simpler procedure. Unfortunately, the feature is currently only available through Microsoft’s preview channel.
Windows Central gave the new feature a go and showcased a simple layout within Phone Link that highlights all the available text in the image, with the option to copy the text to your clipboard in Windows. If you feel like this all sounds familiar, you may remember Microsoft actually started testing this feature out in the Snipping Tool, where your transferred photo would open in the app rather than with Phone Link.
Welcome to the club
Apple users like myself may be tempted to turn their noses up at an update like this, but overall it’s still a beneficial change that I’m sure will benefit a lot of people. However, from what we can tell the OCR isn’t 100% accurate, so you will have to double-check the pasted text before you send it off.
If you’re just looking to paste written notes or basic information, the new feature will probably work just fine for you, however, if you want to paste over longer or more important blocks of text, using cross-device copy and paste may be better (assuming the text isn’t solely confined to an image file).
So far, the feature is still locked behind the Windows Insider Preview Build, Microsoft’s hub for testing potential new features and changes. While we normally say that we have to take the Preview Build changes with a pinch of salt (not all features make a wide release) we’re fairly confident that this Phone Link update will come to fruition.
If you want to try it out yourself, you’ll have to make sure you’re part of the Insider Preview Build channel (which is free to join), where you’ll be able to not only play around with the new Phone Link update but also see other features Microsoft has in the works.
Microsoft’s been busy, what with working on the next major Windows 11 update (24H2) and debuting the next generation of AI-focused Copilot+ PCs at Build 2024. However, there’s another piece of work that likely flew under your radar: an improved weather model powered by its AI technology that’ll benefit Windows 11 and Windows 10 users.
The new upgraded model was developed by Microsoft’s Start weather team, and brings in improved rain and cloud prediction. This follows a recent initiative to implement better AI-assisted prediction models for more accurate weather forecasting over a 30-day period.
Microsoft publicized the improvement in an official Bingblog post and described how its Start team kicked off the improvements, dubbed ‘precipitation nowcasting,’ in late 2021. The team’s model combined data from local radar installations and satellite data to make this advancement.
Better predictions thanks to model improvements
The new model from the Microsoft Start team is an improvement on the previous iteration, which had some flaws due to the satellite weather data necessary for the model only being available 85% to 95% of the time. Then there was the additional complication that this data was drawn from a variety of sources
The predecessor of the new model was much smaller and only predicted a factor called simulated radar reflectivity. The new model is four times the size of the older one and jointly predicts two factors – both satellite and simulated radar reflectivity. This enables the model to better fill in gaps in the data
This is explained in the blog post, as well as the fact that the radar predictiveness model was prioritized and given six times the weight of AI training as the satellite predictiveness model.
The Start team found that their new model, designed to predict precipitation and cloudiness better, offers a substantial improvement in F1-score compared to the radar-based model. (The F1-score is a metric for measuring a machine learning model’s performance by assessing aspects like precision and recall).
They also found that the newly devised model produced predicted satellite images that scored better than those of a persistence forecast (one that assumes that future weather will be like the present) after 15 minutes. This indicated to them that predictions can be especially useful in places and times where satellite outages last longer than 15 minutes.
The good news for Windows 11 and Windows 10 users is that the new and improved Start weather model that uses both satellite and radar prediction has now been fully integrated into Microsoft’s Weather products. The refreshed model will now power the weather icons on the Windows taskbar, lock screen, and anywhere else the forecast appears in your OS (like the MSN feed)
This is a way of using AI that I think most people can get behind, as predicting the weather is notoriously difficult, and we can all use a more accurate weather forecast when it comes to making those important decisions – like whether we need our raincoat or umbrella when we’re venturing out.
Windows 10 might hold a share of around 70% of the overall Windows user base, but that’s not making Microsoft flinch when it comes to its plans to deprecate the fan-favorite operating system. The date when Windows 10 is going to stop receiving support and new updates has been set (it’s October 14, 2025), and current Windows 10 users are being reminded again.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has prodded users to upgrade to Windows 11 – far from it. Previously the company has shown full-screen multi-page reminders, and now, Microsoft has added an official web page detailing the inevitable.
The new ‘End of support’ page offers Microsoft’s advice and recommendations for transitioning to Windows 11 if you’re running Windows 10 (or an older Windows version than that like Windows 8.1 or Windows 7).
Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 have already been ditched and haven’t been receiving updates for a long time, and Windows 10 will join them next year. The official page goes into detail about what will happen when support ends and what users can expect.
The Windows 10-specific page has a prominent banner urging users to upgrade to Windows 11 for free if their PC is eligible. Microsoft also explains that Windows 10 users will no longer receive security or technical updates after October 2025. Their PCs will continue to work, but they won't get security updates and will be left open to potential security exploits, and so Microsoft recommends that they move on to Windows 11 (if their hardware allows the upgrade).
Microsoft is pretty insistent that you will need to get a device capable of running Windows 11, preferably a new one and, if you really want to make Microsoft happy, you can go for one of its brand new next-gen Copilot+ PCs.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
So, what's next for Windows 10 users?
Windows 10 users who don’t want to migrate to Windows 11 will be faced with a difficult choice – switch to an alternative OS entirely (like Linux), or stick with Windows 10 and open up their PC to possible malware and security holes that don’t get resolved by updates after October 2025. These users will also not see any new features for their system or apps introduced through updates.
The other choice is to continue receiving critical security updates for Windows 10 by opting in for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for the operating system. It's intended to be a permanent fix, and its purpose is to offer a temporary solution. This is mainly for organizations and businesses while they transition to a newer operating system.
The pricing plans for individual users opting for the ESU program haven’t been revealed yet, but Windows Latest has learned that Microsoft will share this information later in the year. Businesses will pay $ 61 per device for year one (and that price will increase every year).
Many people just prefer Windows 10 to Windows 11, but there are also folks whose devices don’t meet the hardware requirements to run Microsoft’s newest OS. While there are workarounds for some PCs to fudge an installation of Windows 11, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend that course of action (and neither is it suitable for the less tech-savvy out there).
Microsoft might be eager for people to move on to its shiny new AI-driven Copilot+ PCs, but many people can’t afford a new computer right now, and, for the time being, Windows 10 works perfectly well. A lot of people aren’t that keen on Windows 11 either, due to some of its performance issues, perceived flaws in the operating system’s design, and Microsoft’s persistent effort to integrate AI features into multiple parts of the OS.
I don’t know if Microsoft will be successful in converting more users to Windows 11 and its new line-up of PCs, but Windows 10 fans are reluctant to move on just yet. As to whether that will change next year, we’ll just have to see, but Windows 11 adoption appears to have stalled recently, so it’s not looking great for Microsoft. That said, Windows is still the most widely used desktop operating system in the world, and there’s no threat to its dominance that will mean Microsoft feels the heat in any meaningful way – for now.
Microsoft is gearing up to roll out a pretty substantial update for Windows 11, 24H2, with the update currently making its way through the final stages of testing. According to recent reports, it will see the end of several long-standing Microsoft products, including Cortana and WordPad, along with a few of Windows 11’s other old features.
There is a provisional list of Windows features that are in the process of being deprecated on the official Microsoft Learn blog, although not all of them have a confirmed date. However, Swedish tech news site Sweclocker has shared that the first 24H2 release candidate version is now available via the Windows Insider Program. The final version that will roll out to all Windows 11 users is expected to be released in September or October.
We wrote about the announcements of WordPad’s and Cortana’s deprecation a while back, with Cortana giving way to Microsoft’s new all-purpose digital AI assistant, Copilot. Tips is another app that’s going to be absent in this build, along with Step Recorder. Steps Recorder is a built-in Windows assistance tool that has the ability to record user actions and analyze them to help troubleshoot their device.
These are just some of the apps and features being sent to the Microsoft Graveyard, but the preview release candidate build also brings new features, as detailed in an official Windows Blogs post. This includes HDR background support, the ability to create 7-zip and TAR archives directly in File Explorer, and improvements to Bluetooth connectivity for certain devices.
Copilot is also getting a ramp-up in this update, with the dedicated app rolling out to all Windows 11 users. It will also grant users the ability to move, resize, and snap the Copilot window.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Reflecting on bygones and Windows 11's future
Cortana wasn’t the biggest hit with Windows users and I doubt many will miss it, but there was a pretty vocal response from users who lamented the news that WordPad was on its way out. WordPad is a basic text editor that’s been a default application on Windows devices since the 90s, and many people have grown fond of it, especially as an increasing number of familiar apps have become more complex and been injected with often-unwanted AI features.
If enough people continue to voice their thoughts and positive sentiments about WordPad, we might see it return as an optional download from the Microsoft Store – like what happened with the Paint app that’s since gone on to have a second life. PCGamer speculates that for most of these apps and features, with the exception of Cortana, perhaps Microsoft doesn’t feel like continuing the upkeep of these apps and would prefer to dedicate those resources elsewhere – a move that might see more users take up Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
Some of these features and apps, like Steps Recorder, won’t be especially missed by me, but I do personally hope that Microsoft reconsiders giving WordPad a permanent chop. It would be an easy win that would remind users that Microsoft doesn’t completely plug its ears when it comes to users’ opinions and that it’s still willing to leave things that aren’t broken – even if they’re not the biggest money makers.
If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed or left behind by ChatGPT and other AI tools, fear not – a big new international study has found that most of us aren't using generative AI tools on a regular basis.
The study from Reuters Institute and Oxford University (via BBC), which surveyed over 12,000 people across six countries, seemingly reveals how little that AI hype has percolated down to real-world use, for now.
Even among the people who have used generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot, a large proportion said they'd only used them “once or twice”. Only a tiny minority (7% in the US, 2% in the UK) said they use the most well-known AI tool, ChatGPT, on a daily basis.
A significant proportion of respondents in all countries (including 47% in the US, and 42% in the UK) hadn't even heard of ChatGPT, a figure that was much higher for other AI apps. But after ChatGPT, the most recognized tools were Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Snapchat My AI, Meta AI, Bing AI and YouChat.
Trailing further behind those in terms of recognition were generative AI imagery tools like Midjourney, plus Claude and the xAI's Grok for X (formerly Twitter). But while the regular use of generative AI tools is low, the survey does provide some interesting insights on what the early dabblers are using them for.
This table from the survey shows answers to the question: “You said you have used a generative AI chatbot or tool. Which, if any, of the following have you tried to use it for (even if it didn’t work)?” (Image credit: Reuters Institute and Oxford University)
Broadly speaking, the use cases were split into two categories; “creating media” and, more worryingly given the issue of AI hallucinations, “getting information”. In the former, the most popular answer was simply “playing around or experimenting” (11%), followed by “writing an email or letter” (9%) and “making an image” (9%).
The top two answers in the 'getting information' category were “answering factual questions” (11%) and “asking advice” (10%), both of which were hopefully followed by some corroboration from other sources. Most AI chatbots still come with prominent warnings about their propensity for making mistakes – for example, Google says Gemini “could provide inaccurate information or could even make offensive statements”.
AI tools are arguably better for brainstorming and summarizing, and these were the next most popular uses cases in the survey – with “generating ideas” mentioned by 9% of respondents and “summarizing text” cited by 8% of people.
But while the average person is still seemingly at the dabbling stage with generative AI tools, most people in the survey are convinced that the tools will ultimately have a big impact on our daily lives. When asked if they thought that “generative AI will have a large impact on ordinary people in the next five years”, 60% of 18-24 year olds thought it would, with that figure only dropping to 41% among those who were 55 and older.
Why are AI tools still so niche?
ChatGPT was easily the most well-known AI tool in the survey, but regular users were still in the minority. (Image credit: Reuters Institute and Oxford University)
All surveys have their limitations, and this one focuses mostly on standalone generative AI tools rather than examples of the technology that's baked into existing products – which means that AI is likely more widely used than the study suggests.
Still, its broad sample size and geographic breadth does give us an interesting snapshot of how the average person views and uses the likes of ChatGPT. The answer is that it remains very niche among consumers, with the report's lead author Dr Richard Fletcher suggesting to the BBC that it shows there's a “mismatch” between the “hype” around AI and the “public interest” in it.
Why might that be the case? The reality is that most AI tools, including ChatGPT, haven't yet convinced us that they're frictionless or reliable enough to become a default part of our tech lives. This is why the focus of OpenAI's new GPT-4o model (branding being another issue) was a new lifelike voice assistant, which was designed to help lure us into using it more regularly.
So while this survey's respondents were “generally optimistic about the use of generative AI in science and healthcare, but more wary about it being used in news and journalism, and worried about the effect it might have on job security”, according to Dr Fletcher, it seems that AI tech is going to become a daily part of our lives regardless – just not quite yet.
OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT, has announced that it’s formed a ‘Safety and Security Committee’ that’s intended to make the firm’s approach to AI more responsible and consistent in terms of security.
It’s no secret that OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman – who will be on the committee – want to be the first to reach AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which is broadly considered as achieving artificial intelligence that will resemble human-like intelligence and can teach itself. Having recently debuted GPT-4o to the public, OpenAI is already training the next-generation GPT model, which it expects to be one step closer to AGI.
GPT-4o was debuted on May 13 to the public as a next-level multimodal (capable of processing in multiple ‘modes’) generative AI model, able to deal with input and respond with audio, text, and images. It was met with a generally positive reception, but more discussion around the innovation has since arisen regarding its actual capabilities, implications, and the ethics around technologies like it.
Just over a week ago, OpenAI confirmed to Wired that its previous team responsible for overseeing the safety of its AI models had been disbanded and reabsorbed into other existing teams. This followed the notable departures of key company figures like OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and co-lead of the AI safety ‘superalignment’ team Jan Leike. Their departure was reportedly related to their concerns that OpenAI, and Altman in particular, was not doing enough to develop its technologies responsibly, and was forgoing conducting due diligence.
This has seemingly given OpenAI a lot to reflect on and it’s formed the oversight committee in response. In the announcement post about the committee being formed, OpenAI also states that it welcomes a ‘robust debate at this important moment.’ The first job of the committee will be to “evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards” over the next 90 days, and then share recommendations with the company’s board.
(Image credit: Bild von Free Photos auf Pixabay)
What happens after the 90 days?
The recommendations that are subsequently agreed upon to be adopted will be shared publicly “in a manner that is consistent with safety and security.”
The committee will be made up of Chairman Bret Taylor, CEO of Quora Adam D’Angelo, and Nicole Seligman, a former executive of Sony Entertainment, alongside six OpenAI employees which includes Sam Altman as mentioned, and John Schulman, a researcher and cofounder of OpenAI. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI stated that it will also consult external experts as part of this process.
I’ll reserve my judgment for when OpenAI’s adopted recommendations are published, and I can see how they’re implemented, but intuitively, I don’t have the greatest confidence that OpenAI (or any major tech firm) is prioritizing safety and ethics as much as they are trying to win the AI race.
That’s a shame, and it’s unfortunate that generally speaking, those who are striving to be the best no matter what are often slow to consider the cost and effects of their actions, and how they might impact others in a very real way – even if large numbers of people are potentially going to be affected.
I’ll be happy to be proven wrong and I hope I am, and in an ideal world, all tech companies, whether they’re in the AI race or not, should prioritize the ethics and safety of what they’re doing at the same level that they strive for innovation. So far in the realm of AI, that does not appear to be the case from where I’m standing, and unless there are real consequences, I don’t see companies like OpenAI being swayed that much to change their overall ethos or behavior.
Windows 11 is getting a trick to help the best PC games run more smoothly, although this previously rumored feature comes with a catch – namely that it will only be available to those who have a Copilot+ PC with a Snapdragon X Elite processor.
The feature in question, which was leaked in preview builds of Windows 11 earlier this year, is called Auto Super Resolution (or Auto SR), and the idea is that it automatically upscales the resolution of a game (or indeed app) in real-time.
An upscaling feature like this effectively means the game – and it seems gaming is very much the focus (we’ll come back to that) – is run at a certain (lower) resolution, with the image upscaled to a higher resolution.
This means that something running at, say, 720p, can be upscaled to 1080p or Full HD resolution, and look nearly as good as native 1080p – but it can be rendered faster (because it’s really still 720p). If this sounds familiar, it’s because there are similar solutions already out there, such as Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS to name a few.
As outlined by Microsoft in its fresh details about Copilot+ PCs (highlighted by VideoCardz), the catch is that Auto SR is exclusive to these laptops. In fact, you need to be running the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, so the lesser Plus version of this CPU is ruled out (for now anyway).
The other caveat to bear in mind here is that to begin with this is just for a “curated set of games,” so it’ll have a rather limited scope initially.
Analysis: The start of a long upscaling journey
When it was just a leak, there was some debate about whether Auto SR might be a feature for upscaling anything – games or apps – but Microsoft specifically talks about PC games here, and so that’s the intended use in the main. We also expected it to be some kind of all-encompassing tech in terms of game support, and that clearly isn’t the case.
Eventually, though, we’d think Auto SR will have a much broader rollout, and maybe that’ll happen before too long. After all, AI is being pushed heavily as helping gamers too – as a kind of gaming Copilot – so this is another string to that bow, and an important one we can imagine Microsoft working hard on.
Of course, the real fly in the ointment is the requirement for a Snapdragon X Elite chip, which rules out most PCs, of course. This is likely due to the demanding nature of the task, and the feature being built around the presence of a beefy NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to accelerate the AI workloads involved. Only Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X has a peppy enough NPU to deal with this, or that’s what we can assume – but this won’t be the case for long.
Newer laptop chips from Intel, such as Lunar Lake (and Arrow Lake), and AMD’s Strix Point are inbound for later this year, and will deliver the goods in terms of the NPU and qualifying as the engine for a Copilot+ PC – and therefore being able to run Auto SR.
Naturally, we still need to see how well Microsoft implements this feature, and how upscaling games leveraging a powerful NPU works out. But as mentioned, the company has so much riding on AI, and the gaming side of the equation appears to be important enough, that we’d expect Microsoft will be trying its best to impress.
Microsoft revealed the revamped standalone Copilot app for Windows 11 at this year’s Build 2024 event, and it’s now rolling out to testers – and some of those testers have noticed striking similarities between the app and AI rival ChatGPT.
The Copilot app (which was previously rumored, and even (kind of) spotted in one version of Windows) is present in build 26100 in the Release Preview channel, which is the last step before hitting the final version of Windows 11. In fact, this is the preview version of the Windows 11 24H2 update which lands later this year.
The new app is no longer an anchored side panel on the desktop, but a full app in a window, allowing you to move and resize the AI assistant as needed, just like any other app. The Copilot icon is also centrally located in the Windows 11 taskbar now, rather than on the far right in the system tray.
That certainly represents a good deal more flexibility for Copilot, and for how you might want to use the AI, but some users testing the new app are noticing something else – that the revamped Copilot interface resembles ChatGPT in a few respects.
As Windows Latest notes, the similarities include the left-hand side menu that displays previous chats, alongside the general ‘vibe’ of the new Copilot app.
Familiar territory
Aside from Copilot having the chat bar in the center of the app panel, and maybe a splash of color, there really isn’t a lot of difference between the two AI-powered chatbots. Microsoft can’t be entirely blamed for imitating the iconic ChatGPT’s layout, though, as many other ChatGPT alternatives have adopted the same style of layout to allow users to easily familiarize themselves with the newer apps.
Think about how easy it is for you to navigate most of the social media apps on your phone – they all have a similar layout, so even if you’ve only just joined a new one, you can find your way around before learning the more intricate details. That said, I do think Microsoft could have done a little better here in trying to come up with its own style, but the app is still in testing within the Windows Insider program, so perhaps the design will be tweaked further ahead of its public release.
If you’d like to try out the new Copilot app, you’ll need to be part of that Windows Insider testing program. Joining is pretty straightforward, and once you’re all signed up you’ll have access not just to the Copilot app, but to other updates and features Microsoft tries out in preview versions.
Do bear in mind a couple of things, though: test versions of Windows 11 aren’t something you want to be running on your main PC (as things are more likely to go wrong, so don’t run any risks in that regard). Also, remember that just because a feature has appeared in testing, that doesn’t mean it’ll make the cut for release in the final version of Windows 11 used by everyone.
Recall has been stirring up strong opinions left, right and center since its revelation, and now it appears to be under the microscope of the ICO, a UK-based privacy watchdog.
The worries expressed widely online are focused on how this feature may affect privacy for those who have it, which won’t be all Windows 11 users, we should note – just Copilot+ PC owners who have the necessary hardware goods in terms of a powerful NPU.
For those who missed it, what Recall does is record your PC usage, very literally in terms of taking screenshots of your active windows every couple of seconds. This then allow you to exercise powerful natural language-based search capabilities to rifle through your past PC usage, not just in terms of text but also visual search – with AI locating what you need by going through that huge library of screen grabs.
You can doubtless see the kind of privacy concerns that might be sparked by this constant stream of screenshots going on in the background, but the pushback and reaction has got serious very quickly.
Sky News spotted that in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which oversees data privacy and related regulations, is already cautious about the Recall capability.
Indeed, following all the uproar around Recall, the ICO is investigating the feature, and told Sky: “We are making enquiries with Microsoft to understand the safeguards in place to protect user privacy.”
(Image credit: iStock)
Safety first
It’s a good question, of course – so what safeguards are in place here to protect Windows 11 users?
For starters, Recall happens locally, so everything is stored on the PC, and nothing is sent online to the cloud or Microsoft’s servers – so there’s no risk of having data intercepted (or a third-party data breach leaking the private details of how you use your Windows 11 machine).
Microsoft has underlined that it doesn’t have access to any of this data, and it won’t be used to train its AI.
Furthermore, the company pointed out that you can manually delete snapshots, or adjust the timeframe they’re kept for – or pause, or turn off Recall entirely if you don’t want it. It’s also possible to block certain apps or websites from being used by Recall, so effectively there’s a lot of fine-grained control here.
However, will Windows 11 users be bothered to exercise that control and properly set up Recall? Well, that’s one worry, and another is that while it’s all well and good to say everything stays on the device, we have to firstly trust that’s the case – and it’s all watertight – and secondly, what if your PC is compromised by malware, or stolen. Then what?
Hackers or thieves could potentially have access to your Recall library of screenshots, which may contain confidential information, openly available to see, such as your bank or card details, or visible passwords, or, well, anything that has happened on your PC (that you haven’t marked out of bounds using Windows 11’s settings for Recall).
As Muhammad Yahya Patel, who is lead security engineer at Check Point, put it: “It is a one-shot attack for criminals, like a grab and go, but with Recall they will essentially have everything in a single location [your screenshot database] … Imagine the goldmine of information that will be stored on a machine, and what threat actors can do with it.”
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
More questions than answers?
So, there are definitely still some major concerns and question marks here, and it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what the ICO makes of Microsoft’s big AI play for Windows 11 to supercharge search.
We’ve already discussed other thorny areas around Recall – such as Windows 11 Home users apparently not benefiting from encryption for the data used by the feature, and what type of encryption is in place for Windows 11 Pro (or business) users anyway?
In that article, we also go over the precautions you can take to make Recall as secure as possible, but really, the best bet for the paranoid might be – simply turn it off and don’t use it. And maybe Microsoft wonders what all the fuss is about from naysayers, and why they don’t just take that approach.
But for the less tech-savvy, who might not even realize what Recall is, or that it’s turned on by default, it could be a risky feature – particularly considering these are the people who are most prone to getting hit by malware or hacked.
With that in mind, shouldn’t the first sensible security step be to have Recall off by default? So that it’s only turned on by those who know what it’s for, and want it? Let’s see what the ICO makes of Microsoft’s ‘default on’ approach, too.
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