Microsoft Launches Recall and Integrates AI into Search, Plus Other Updates

[AleksandarK]

Microsoft has deployed three AI features to Copilot+ PCs through the Windows 11 April 2025 non-security preview update. Users can finally access the long-promised Recall, Click to Do, and enhanced Windows Search by enabling "Get the latest updates as soon as they're available" in Settings > Windows Update. Recall operates as a background capture system that takes periodic screenshots, encrypts them via the device's TPM chip, and stores them locally. The system creates a searchable index organized by keywords, dates, and applications. Privacy controls include Windows Hello authentication for settings changes, app-specific exclusions, customizable retention periods, and snapshot deletion options. Windows E3 enterprise deployments can implement Group Policy controls for centralized management.

Click to Do functions at the window manager level, activated by Win + Click or touchscreen right swipe. The context-aware tool provides different capabilities based on content type, offering summarization and translation for text, and background removal and editing for images. Image processing works across all Copilot+ hardware, while text functionality currently supports only Snapdragon processors, with AMD Ryzen AI 300-series and Intel Core Ultra 200V compatibility scheduled for later release. The updated Windows Search implements a compact language model running directly on the device's NPU. This enables natural-language queries throughout Windows interfaces, allowing users to find content without exact filenames. The system operates on NPUs rated at over 40 TOPS and delivers 70 percent faster retrieval than Windows 10.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[bonehead123]

app-specific exclusions

Wondering if this includes the OS itself, or just M$'s snooper-pooper ones ?

Sorry, but this just seems like yet ANUTHA shit-show-side-loaded way of M$ pushing folks to buy new CPU's, mobo's ect or a new pc altogether.....

Soooo...now you can "officially" talk to your pc (instead of taking .00328ns to type something in) and let the bot find shit for you.....and guess who gets a copy of those searches & results ?????

I think I'll stick with the old-fashion way, thank you

 

[huggi]

Man, I literally ditched Windows yesterday and jumped feet first into Linux (specifically, CachyOS) after doing a hardware upgrade/rebuild. Spent most of today just fiddling around and setting stuff up (including finding alternatives) but I think it will be worth it in the long term with Microsoft turning Windows into what it is...

 

[_roman_]

As long everything is encrypted with the TPM chip everything is safe, right? *sarcasm

 

[Dyno]

This new update broke the disk cleaning service in Windows 11.

 

[Geofrancis]

I would rather blowtorch my nipples off than enable this Sh*t.

 

[notoperable]

We care about User, in line with our best traditions,

we launch a service no user asked for, giving you the
the unique telemetry experience that only genuine MS
product can offer.

Users, enjoy our Worlds only true SaaS!

System as a Spyware™ - Windows!

(Standing Ovations)

 

[vantila]

Atlas, a Windows variant gets rid of such nonsense as far as I know.

 

[notoperable]

Sneaky MS with their godlike Stealth techniques other Malware vendors can only dream about,
Evading Antivirus and Antimalware software since Windows 1.0

In 2006 Balmer aka Monkeyboy was dancing and shouting Developers developers developers,
In 2025 Nadella aka Bowl shows you an AI Prompt demo and users shout Telemetry telemetry telemetry

 

[mtosev]

I voted for recall.

 

[notoperable]

Atlas, a Windows variant gets rid of such nonsense as far as I know.

If you think debloaters or package shufflers prevent Windows for gathering your data
you need to install Wireshark and let it run on idle, even after applying every known cutoff

Surprise!

Only way to prevent Windows from pissing all over your privacy is to
put a firewall that actually will stop any outcoing/incoming connection unless
you say so, meaning its at minimum a kernel-mode driver, because everyting
else Windows just overrides and appends their telemetry sucking IPs and Hostnames
to whitelists that there is - if you run something build on top of Windows Firewall
you gonna have a wake up call because those just lull users into control of very
own hardware to give your data away - or you truly think that this is used to make
Windows better at anything aside of being a better Big Brother.

 

[Wirko]

And then you press the Windows key and start typing, then you wait, then you wait some more, but still nothing happens, then you *recall* that 11 does that every day, then you try again, and on second attempt, search works fine. Will AI search be more reliable?

 

[yfn_ratchet]

Ah yes, another fluff feature being advertised as integral to the OS experience, as yet another entry of "please please PLEASE switch to Windows 11 guys people aren't buying new Windows computers fast enough". Ridiculous.

Win10 really should have been the last Windows. It was the last one people were content to use, between its predecessor and successor versions.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I can’t wait for the next level dragnet this will create. All your behavior neatly cataloged with photos and metadata, all in the name of helping you remember how you used your PC. Some countries already don’t think you should be able to encrypt stuff so they can’t get to it, so they should love Windows 11 Copilot+ PC with Recall.

 

[Marcus L]

Sick of this shit being enforced now, into the phone OS, browsers, Whatsapp, facebook, twitter etc some people do not want Ai depsite how hard they are trying to force it, tbh I can't see where there ROI is going to come from for all these companies who have likely invested millions+, it has to be paid for somehow and if you aren't paying then you are the product. It shouldn't be put into apps and software without the user having an opt out option IMO, not a big fan of the EU in a lot of cases though I hope they open up an antitrust suit and force these companies and service providers to provide consumers with a choice.

 

[AsRock]

Click to Do functions

Delete function ?.

 

[TPUnique]

Every once in a while, whe I read an upsetting news about M$ pushing their no-longer-user-controlled OS further down the gutter, I go and check ReactOS. And sometimes I donate to that project, too.

Progress is slow but steady. Hoping for a beta release within 5 to 10 years, and I'm saying that with a straight face : it'll be a beautiful day, as it'll have become even more badly needed by then. LLM-assisted coding will have been refined too, and may help them accelerate the release.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I fell very secure in knowing neither my mint or manjaro PCs do any of this to me.

 

[phanbuey]

Microsoft releasing the Bing of AI models.

How about you use AI to fix your crappy Intune functionality, or streamline AD for those still on it, or fix the absolute mess of the management console, or de-bloat win 11 so it doesn't run like an absolute dog.

An AI that can sort outlook emails and give you a summary of most important ones, etc - would be really cool.

Nope... we're going to make it take screenshots of everything you do so we ... i mean "you!" can search it later... you know... in case you forget...

 

[kondamin]

Bah. How this is even allowed is mind boggling.
here should be a massive pushback from the eu over recall and ai assisted local search

 

[Vayra86]

Bah. How this is even allowed is mind boggling.
here should be a massive pushback from the eu over recall and ai assisted local search

It will happen its inevitable. Im just going to keep running a pre-Recall build like I am now until they do.

 

[close]

Users can finally access the long-promised Recall

Long "threatened" Recall. About as exciting (and invasive) as a colonoscopy.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

Tbh I love Recall (on my work PC). As someone who works on hundreds of files, even though I'm very organized, it can be a challenge remembering and finding the exact file I'm looking for.

Recall makes finding them dead simple. My only complaint is that the security needed to enable it is now too aggressive. If you use an external webcam for Windows Hello, you can't enable the feature. The webcam needs to be integrated and support new security features.

In any case, if you have a PC that's dedicated for work, Recall is fantastic.

 

[dia6olo]

I am personally looking to move away from Windows and I'm currently at the stage of dual booting Windows and Linux, I have been at that dual boot stage for a good 12 months now.
I am dual booting Windows 11 pro and currently CachyOS on two separate drives.
While one could dual boot on one drive, the cost of storage is plenty cheap enough these days and dual booting Windows and Linux on separate drives is the better approach and very simple.

My Windows 11 pro installation is stripped back of some of the excess bloat and with the exception of 1 or 2 bits of software I use from time to time, the only software installed is all gaming related.

I spend pretty much all of my computing time in Linux and only boot into Windows for gaming and maintenance only.

I have never really tried gaming in Linux but I am aware that these days Linux gaming is pretty solid, I am however also aware that there are issues that still need resolving, and it's with that in mind why I currently run a dual boot setup.
Also bear in mind that I am currently running an Nvidia GPU which play less nicely in Linux than AMD GPUs do.

 

[vantila]

If you think debloaters or package shufflers prevent Windows for gathering your data
you need to install Wireshark and let it run on idle, even after applying every known cutoff

Surprise!

Only way to prevent Windows from pissing all over your privacy is to
put a firewall that actually will stop any outcoing/incoming connection unless
you say so, meaning its at minimum a kernel-mode driver, because everyting
else Windows just overrides and appends their telemetry sucking IPs and Hostnames
to whitelists that there is - if you run something build on top of Windows Firewall
you gonna have a wake up call because those just lull users into control of very
own hardware to give your data away - or you truly think that this is used to make
Windows better at anything aside of being a better Big Brother.

Not nececarily for privacy, de-bloaters come in handy to automate new system setup, Atlas is quite intricate, on top of that one can take measures for privacy.