Introduction to Recall
Recall is a feature that captures and stores information on your PC, including sensitive data like credit card numbers and passwords. To address concerns about this, Microsoft has introduced automated content filtering to the latest version of Recall. This filtering is based on the technology used for Microsoft Purview Information Protection, an enterprise feature used to tag sensitive information on business, healthcare, and government systems.
How Automated Content Filtering Works
The automated content filtering is hit and miss. Recall won’t take snapshots of a webpage with a visible credit card field, online banking site, or an image of a driver’s license. However, it can still capture sensitive information in certain edge cases. For example, it saved snapshots showing a recent check with the account holder’s name, address, and account and routing numbers visible.
Limitations of Automated Filtering
The automated filtering is still a big improvement from before, when it would capture sensitive information indiscriminately. However, things will inevitably slip through, and the automated filtering won’t help at all with other kinds of data. Recall will take pictures of email and messaging apps without distinguishing between what’s sensitive and what isn’t.
Uninstalling Recall
Recall can be removed entirely. If you take it out, it’s totally gone—the options to configure it won’t even appear in Settings anymore.
Checking What Recall is Filtering
One issue is that there’s no easy way to check and confirm what Recall is and isn’t filtering without actually scrolling through the database and checking snapshots manually. The system tray status icon does change to display a small triangle and will show you a "some content is being filtered" status message when something is being filtered, but the system won’t tell you what it is.
Conclusion
The upshot is that if you capture months and months and gigabytes and gigabytes of Recall data on your PC, it’s inevitable that it will capture something you probably wouldn’t want to be preserved in an easily searchable database. More transparency would help instill trust and help users fine-tune their filtering settings.
FAQs
- Q: What is Recall?
A: Recall is a feature that captures and stores information on your PC, including sensitive data like credit card numbers and passwords. - Q: How does automated content filtering work in Recall?
A: The automated content filtering is based on the technology used for Microsoft Purview Information Protection and is designed to filter out sensitive information. - Q: Can Recall be uninstalled?
A: Yes, Recall can be removed entirely, and the options to configure it won’t even appear in Settings anymore. - Q: How can I check what Recall is filtering?
A: There’s no easy way to check and confirm what Recall is and isn’t filtering without actually scrolling through the database and checking snapshots manually.
