Microsoft is bringing back it’s controversial Recall feature, this time it’s opt-in but large privacy and security concerns still remain. In this video we dive into some of the concerns and explain how to disable it if you’re already using the feature.
This serves as a great reminder that vocal advocacy for privacy can lead to positive changes that pressure companies to make improvements. The fact that the feature will be opt-in instead of opt-out is a significant win.
This video is so good! Thank you Jordan for making it, excellent work!
This is a far more objective content about Recall than what I’ve seen on the signal doesn’t recall thread and stuff great job.
This is it, it’s great we held Microsoft to a standard to secure Recall but History with them has been proven that especially in terms of privacy they will not respect it for long and therefore Disabling it regardless or configuring it properly would be the wisest choice (or get rid of Windows all together as said.)
that’s all there needs to be said:
Yes consistently taking screenshot is very concerning and without properly configuring even trying to take sensitive info. (or again encourage disabling it all together which I didn’t say before but I plan to do this if I get the Job at IT support :D) [or of course all together make them ditch Windows]
No an attacker will not be able to take it anymore, they (after backslash) finally properly secured it
Yes Microsoft cannot be trusted long term with Recall at all, history with them says so.
Even though I hate Recall, and not going to install it on my Windows but advertising for Linux was a bad idea.
Linux is secure, because no one really bothers to attack an OS with low user count. Also, many regular users will not use it, including me, because it is not easy to use it. For example, I have literally thousands of games in my Steam, Epic, Origin, GoG, Rockstar, etc. To run them in Linux, I have to check a lot websites, KBs, download and verify lots of stuff, like Proton compatibility for example, and still game will not run. If I manage games to run, mods will not run.
If you are using you computer just for browsing and doing your “activist” stuff, yes, Linux is a good choice, but for me, Windows is the only choice.
Linux can perfectly game just fine assuming it’s not a game with Anti-Cheat or Invasive DRM outside of the exceptions like Marvel Rivals. (Not to mention GoG games are DRM-free and there are many tools to help with different launchers nowadays.)
For that kind of user even I still recommend using Linux. Recommending it against because you have a “bunch of games” you don’t wanna check and only reserving linux usage for simple tasks is outright disingenuous.
So yes it can be perfectly usable to even the gamer (assuming you aren’t a day one, anti-cheat/[Invasive] DRM Games Player.)
I literally play Zenless Zone Zero (and stick to that due to having goals like Reading book and going to work properly and stuff) on Linux, not everyone is that gamer but I put my point better above.
Linux can also be perfectly easy to use, for many users it’s about, the stuff they wanna do works and the installation is painless, that’s all they really need to it for Linux.
I normally don’t wanna sound like a Linux shill it really isn’t perfect and can often come at a sacrifice, however it needs to be said that what you’re saying is outright disingenuous.
It is your choice if you wanna keep using Windows and if you know what you’re doing, that’s fine. But nonetheless. And that’s why I can see maybe say stuck adobe users dual booting or outright not using Linux because of this but you need to draw the line at some point. But if say you’re a user that you’re tired of adobe but instead you’re going to try GIMP or idk even Krita if you’re an artist instead then yeah all the more reason to consider Linux when you consider the alternative you switched to. [And assuming it’s not affinity photo or whatever] (or heck Replace Photoshop with Photopea, much more familiar and stuff like that, then idk video editing, Sure there’s a debate on Davinci resolve but works on Linux if you’re at that relatively well that is when you get it installing correctly, etc.)
And in general people who are tired of Windows outright, like PewDiePie or equivalent, The only choice after that is Linux to be frank. So tbh no I am not against and none should be on recommending Linux.
also about the security, well it seems we’re back to square one, but I’ll take it to square 2 and 3 by saying this: Secureblue, Sandboxing (Flatpak etc.)
need me add more?
@jordan great, now if they'd only make all the OTHER awful things in Windows 11 opt-in, then we'd really be onto something 😂
This is not inaccurate, Windows having the larger install base is more attractive for blanket attacks for a larger reward. Both scan be reasonably secured from bad actors though as the number one fail point is the user (not the OS).
This is quite wrong. I have a catalogue of over 1000 games between Steam, Origin, Epic, Rockstar and I am able to play them without issue. GTA5, RDR 2, Borderlands, Far-cry, Diablo, Civilization, and many more. The “need” to go and check “a lot of websites” is outdated as using heroic launcher and steam using proton you will see many of these games run straight out of the box.
There is also a lot of user friendly distros out there such a as Mint (basically windows 7 useability) and Bazzite (gaming distro). Bazzite sounds like it could be more your cup of tea and is my OS on my second PC and runs in a mode that makes it feel like a console. Sign in to your favorite libraries of games, install, and launch all with a controller.
Just because someone uses Linux it doesn’t make them an activist by any means. Many “activists” use windows and MAC so this is an invalid argument with needless labelling. I would recommend giving Bazzite a look into for you to see the only hard stop is for competitive shooters that use Anti-Cheat (some even work on Linux, not many). Cs2, APEX, Helldivers 2 and Overwatch 2 are some examples
It’s good that Microsoft made Recall opt-in (for now), but just making it optional doesn’t solve the core issue.
One thing worth pointing out is that Signal is currently the only app that has actually taken steps to block Recall from capturing its content. They recently updated their Windows app to prevent screenshots taken by Recall, which makes them one of the few companies actively doing something about this.
Lots of games nowadays work on Linux without having to do anything or requiring only minor configurations. You can check ProtonDB to see if a game works.
tbf to Bhaelros, ProtonDB only covers steam, not games outside of it
Haven’t really gotten games from anywhere but Steam for a long time, so I forgot about that. There is also WineHQ to check for compatibility with games and other software missing from ProtonDB.
Thanks Em! 
If you’re a gamer then Windows is definitely a must, but you could be consider dual booting so that activities that aren’t gaming related could be segmented into a more private space. You don’t have to only use one operating system after all!
That’s not true. For some games with anti-cheat it makes sense, but many games on Linux definitely work well because of Proton.
Well a lot of the most popular games aren’t supported on Linux yet (like you said because of anti-cheat), so if you’re really into gaming then Windows makes a lot more sense. Especially if you’re primarily using your computer for gaming.
I am aware that a lot of games are supported through Proton, it’s just hard to recommend (specifically to gamers) when a lot of the most popular games don’t run on Linux, which is why in this person’s case I recommended dual booting instead.
I know Steam’s list is a bit hit or miss, but this just shows how many games are now supported by Proton. I have a hard time recommending anyone to dual boot just because gaming on linux is not “good”.
A lot are.
This also boils down to what you consider popular but let’s look at some of them
CS2- Works great
Minecraft- no issues
Dota 2- playing competitively works well
Gta5- works well OOTB, some users need a specific proton version
Elden ring- works amazing
The Witcher 3- no issues
Stardew valley, Among us, rocket league, RB6 siege, and overwatch 2 all work.
Currently Valorant has been working with some advanced tweaks using wine. COD works but ends up calling Linux a cheat unfortunately.
Destiny 2, Warzone, PUBG and Fortnite all fail to launch or if they do you end up banned.
I would 100% recommend Linux for gamers but with a few caveats.
If you want to play games that need anti-cheat enabled, GeForce Now let’s you do so. But it is cloud based gaming and can have s higher latency. If you are heavily reliant performance for climbing the ladders in these games, then Windows is the better option. But if you play casual to semi casual then Linux works 100% with GeForce now.
I really dont think @jordan is implying Linux gaming is not good and no not many of the popular games work on Linux (good luck convincing Valorant, Fortnite, PUBG, Delta Force, Rust, CoD, Destiny 2, R6 Siege players, Minecraft bedrock players, Apex Legends, Wuthering Waves players, etc.).
What I think jordan is implying is that for many games (with exceptions like Hoyo(unofficially), Marvel Rivals, Overwatch 2, Valve’s popular games (CS2, Dota), Monster Hunter Wilds,
Baldur’s Gate 3, HELLDIVERS 2, Cyberpunk 2077, War Thunder, World of Warships, Stardew Valley and some others I may have missed), dual booting could be necessary.
I do this actually because mostly I have Wuthering Waves (doesn’t work on linux atm for a year now), Ananta is unknown if it’ll have a Steam deck playable/verified (or SteamOS playable/verified now that it came out) and Neverness to Everness I very much doubt but would be surprised. There’s also the fact that the accessible way to do ChilloutVR with Mods is Windows, yes you could configure mods to work on Linux with this game however especially with Desktop Head Tracking, yeah, I cannot sustain being exclusively on Linux.
Don’t get me wrong I spend the majority of my computing time on Arch because one of my main games actually works here and I have ChilloutVR working and running on Linux just with video players disabled because libvlc parameter making it crash, unless that was fixed (which for some of those users is unacceptable to have a non-proper working video player but not all including me) but without mods and if I want the mods, I boot into windows, setup my software and hardware needed to operate then I hop in.