Sorry, Windows 11 users, but you’re not escaping Microsoft’s all-seeing Recall feature that easily

Ability to uninstall the AI search feature for Copilot+ PCs is just a bug in 24H2

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Windows 11won’t offer an option to uninstall the divisive Recall feature after all, it seems, when clues in a preview build appeared to suggest it might – at least in some regions, anyway.

Deskmodder, a German tech site, recentlyflagged up the option in a new previewforWindows 11 24H2, thebig update due to land later this year.

This promptedMicrosoft’s Brandon LeBlanc, who is Windows senior product manager, to contactThe Vergewith a statement to clarify: “We are aware of an issue where Recall is incorrectly listed as an option under the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ dialog in Control Panel. This will be fixed in an upcoming update.”

So, presumably the next build of 24H2 will have this option removed from the Control Panel.

Windows 11’s Recall feature is essentially an AI-powered search that takes regular screenshots of the activity on your PC, and uses them to find things, going way beyond the scope of a typical Windows search (and no, that isn’t difficult, we’d agree).

The trouble is Recall has been making serious waves and causing a whole bunch of concerns to be aired since it was first announced, to the point that Microsoft pulled plans to debut it (in preview) with Copilot+ PCs, and thenyanked it from test builds of Windows 11. It is now comingback to testing, mind, in October– so ready your surfboards for more waves of controversy (no doubt).

We should also note thatRecall is only for Copilot+ PCs, although down the line, it’s likely a lot more computers will have the requisite NPU (and security) in place to be classified as such a device.

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Analysis: The option to remove has been removed

We found it difficult to believe Microsoft would include a choice to completely strip out Recallfrom Windows 11, when the software giant can simply offer an option to disable it (the scheme previously in place). Removing the entire workings of Recall from a Windows PC would mean it’s more of a hassle to turn it on, should any given user dump it, and then maybe change their mind at a later date – a niche scenario, perhaps, but still, why would Microsoft facilitate such an uninstall option?

It probably wouldn’t, but the company might have to do so in the EU, where data and privacy regulations may push back against Recall harder than in other regions. If this option is a bug, though, does that mean a choice will be present for European users somewhere else – or just that they won’t get Recall? Or might there be no difference for EU users at all? Possibly.

It has to be said that this is a bit of a strange bug, too (not thatodd bugs being visited upon Windows is anything hugely new, of course). Whatever’s going on here, some folks were pleased to see the ability to strip out Recall, and now that Microsoft has clarified that this isn’t happening, they’ll probably be less than happy about the functionality even sitting in the background of their PC.

The worry for some is that the feature will eventually end up being turned on in the future – or rather that the concrete presence of Recall, embedded in Windows 11, is an indication of this being the direction Microsoft is heading in at some point, anyway.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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