Microsoft has unveiled a new mechanism called Recall for Windows 11 – a feature designed to track and record all user actions on a computer. This tool provides users the convenience of easily going back to tasks or revisiting websites they interacted with earlier, thereby enhancing their productivity and user experience.
Features and Functionality of Recall
Commonly referred to as AI Explorer, the Recall function offers a wide gamut of applications. It catalogs user activities across various applications, during online conversations, and even while browsing websites. Recall presents virtually all of a user’s actions in Windows 11 on a timeline, much like the Timeline from Windows 10. The AI-powered search enables users to perform natural language queries to retreive specific past information of interest.
Hardware Requirements for Recall
Notably, Recall won’t function on all Windows 11 computers. It requires a modern computer based on a high-performance processor with an integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to support AI-based mechanisms. For instance, the feature will be available on devices equipped with the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite ARM chips, expected to hit the market later this year.
Storage Requirements for Recall
To run the Recall function, computers need to house an SSD with a minimum capacity of 250GB, with at least 50GB of free disk space. By default, 25GB of a 256GB hard drive is earmarked for Recall data storage, allowing for information preservation for around 3 months. Users have the flexibility to allocate more storage space via the computer’s settings. Older data will be purged to make room for new entries as soon as the allocated storage capacity is reached.
User Privacy and Control
Microsoft guarantees confidentiality and local storage of information indexed using Recall. Users can pause the indexing or delete stored data as per their requirement. There is also an option to completely turn off this feature if desired.
