It appears that you won't have the option to uninstall Recall - the controversial AI-assisted Windows 11 Screen-Capping feature. I can't really say I'm surprised.

Microsoft will not allow users to uninstall the Windows Recall feature, despite all the criticism and security issues it has faced. You won't be able remove the feature from your system, regardless of whether you use it.

Microsoft told The Verge the way Recall was listed in the update notes was a bug.

The company confirms that "This issue will be resolved in an upcoming update."

Recall, for those who are unaware, is a feature designed to "help you find everything you have ever done or seen on your PC". You could, for example, ask Recall to locate that hilarious video you watched a few days back but forgot to bookmark.

If this seems impossible, then you are forgetting the magic that is AI. This is why Recall was designed for Copilot+ PCs equipped with powerful NPUs such as those found in the Snapdragon X series or the AMD Strix Point APUs.

You might be wondering how an AI-powered feature can achieve this feat without keeping a record of everything you do on your PC. That would be a nightmare in terms of security, right?

You're right to be curious, because it can't. Recall does take screenshots every few seconds of your desktop, and this has caused backlash. Microsoft has backedtracked, saying that the feature will not be enabled by default, as was expected. Users will have to opt-in to use it.

It's also not good to see that researchers were able to bypass Windows security and access all the images. Microsoft may have made improvements to security and assured us that images would only be accessible locally by the Recall user. However, the fact that this hack was possible has not improved the public perception of Recall.

It's also been rumoured that "intelligent search" is in the works. This Windows feature will scan and transcrib all of your computer's audio files and videos to find the phrase or words you're searching for. This feature would be a great addition to Microsoft's Recall plan and would likely cause security concerns.

After all this, and a delayed feature launch, it appears that we won't even be able to uninstall the software when it is released. Microsoft has not confirmed that Recall will not be able be uninstalled. They only said that the note indicating that it would was a bug.

Microsoft is not a company I would trust to allow us to completely uninstall this feature. The company has a bad track record of allowing such things. Remember Cortana? Even Microsoft Teams and OneDrive are difficult to remove.

Let's hope that disabling the feature will be sufficient. Microsoft, no funny business. Okay?