Welcome to the Blog

Windows Recall takes screenshots of your activity every few seconds... should you turn it off?

This morning I came across a few posts claiming that some new Windows computers are taking pictures of everything on the screen. That sounded a little dramatic, but with how much technology can monitor and track these days, I wanted to check for myself.

It turns out there really is a Windows feature called Recall.

Recall is available on some newer Windows 11 Copilot+ computers. When it is turned on, it can save periodic snapshots of what you are doing so you can search through them later. Those snapshots could include websites, messages, documents, or anything else visible on your screen.

Microsoft says Recall is optional. The company also says the snapshots are stored on the computer and protected with encryption and Windows Hello. Even so, I am not sure I want my computer keeping a searchable record of everything I look at, especially when sensitive information might be on the screen.

It also raises a fair question: why does a feature like this need to be running in the first place, and what other data-collection settings should people be checking?

Here is Microsoft's own information about Recall:

Microsoft: Retrace your steps with Recall

Microsoft's privacy and security information is here:

Microsoft: Privacy and control over your Recall experience

If you want to check your computer, go to:

Settings → Privacy & security → Recall & snapshots

From there, turn off Save snapshots. If snapshots have already been saved, you can select Delete snapshots and remove them.

Microsoft also says Recall can be removed by searching Windows for Turn Windows features on or off. Open it, find Recall, uncheck it, and restart your computer.

Recall is not available on every Windows computer, so you may not have it at all. But if you recently bought a newer Windows laptop, it only takes a minute to check.

It is better to know what is turned on than to assume everything is off by default.

Check your settings, and share this with anyone who might want to check theirs.

For the longest time, I've realized one thing you need to keep in mind about people. You Don't Know.

Honestly, even when you think you do... you don't.

People are people. We all have our own hearts, our own struggles, our own ways of dealing with life. Sometimes people have a hard time letting go of the mask they wear every day. Sometimes the things they're dealing with aren't obvious to anyone else.

We all have our issues. Not every issue is going to seem serious to another person, and sometimes people are going to see things completely differently than you do.

Take an egg, for example. At first glance, you see the shell. That's it. Just an egg. But underneath that shell could be breakfast, or it could be a new chick on the way. If you never take the time to appreciate what that shell protects, you miss the fact that the shell has meaning too. It's part of the whole thing.

People aren't much different.

We drive past cars and think of them as something "in the way." We walk past people who are nothing more than background noise in our day. But every once in a while, if you stop and have a conversation with someone, or even look over at the driver sitting next to you at a red light, you realize something. They're just as complicated as you are.

They can be hurt, confused, depressed, happy, strong, scared, hopeful, angry, or excited. They have things they're carrying that you'll probably never see. They're living their own life just as fully as you're living yours.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we should always remember that while the rest of the world outside of our immediate circle can sometimes feel less important, those people are just as real and just as complicated as we are.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget everyone else is doing the exact same thing. They have bills, families, problems, dreams, fears, regrets, and things they don't tell anyone about.

You don't know what someone had to deal with before they walked into the room. You don't know what someone is thinking when they don't say anything. You don't know what someone has been through just because they don't show it.

And honestly, sometimes we need to look in the mirror and realize that we do the exact same thing. We expect people to understand when we're having a bad day, but sometimes we don't give that same understanding to someone else. We want people to respect us, but sometimes we forget to respect them. We want people to listen to what we're saying, but sometimes we don't stop long enough to listen to what someone else is saying.

It's easy to look at someone and decide who they are based on one moment. It's easy to judge someone because of the way they talk, the way they dress, the way they act, or even the way they treated you. But one moment isn't an entire person.

Just like one bad day doesn't make you a bad person, someone else's bad day doesn't make them a bad person either. That doesn't mean you have to accept everything people do. It doesn't mean you have to let someone hurt you or stay around someone who treats you badly.

It just means you can still remember that they're a person.

Respect doesn't always mean agreement.

You can disagree with someone and still respect them. You can walk away from someone and still understand that they have feelings. You can have boundaries and still have compassion.

I think sometimes people confuse being kind with being weak, but I don't really believe that. It takes more effort to stop and think before you judge someone. It takes more effort to listen instead of immediately responding. It takes more effort to admit that maybe you don't know the whole story.

And maybe that's the biggest thing about looking in the mirror. You have to be willing to look at yourself the same way you look at everyone else.

If you want patience, give patience. If you want respect, give respect. If you want understanding, try to understand.

None of us are perfect at this. I'm not. You're not. Nobody is.

But I think the world would be a little different if people took a second every now and then to remember that the person standing next to them is just as real as they are.

That person driving slow in front of you has somewhere to be.

That person walking past you might be having the worst day of their life.

That person who smiled at you might have needed someone to smile at them.

That person you don't understand might simply see the world differently than you do.

And that's okay.

We don't have to understand everyone to respect them. We don't have to agree with everyone to treat them like a human being.

Sometimes all it takes is remembering that there is always more underneath the shell.

Just like the egg.

You see the outside first, but you don't know what's underneath until you take the time to look.

And people are no different.

So every once in a while, take a look in the mirror. Ask yourself how you treat people when nobody is watching. Ask yourself if you're giving people the same patience you expect from them. Ask yourself if you're judging someone without knowing their story.

Because at the end of the day, You Don't Know.

We're all just people trying to figure things out, carrying things that other people can't see, and trying to make it through our own little piece of this world.

So maybe we should respect each other a little more. Maybe we should listen a little longer. Maybe we should judge a little less.

And maybe, just maybe, if we all took a little more time to look in the mirror, we'd realize that the person we're looking at isn't all that different from the people around us.

For the last few days I've been working on posting some of the covers and remixes I've created on TikTok.

For now I only have two posts up currently...

Armor For Sleep: Tomorrow Faded Away. It's more of a cover than a remix.

Eminem: Lucky You. A metal cover of the original keeping original lyrics from Eminem and Joyner Lucas.

These are just two of the few fan remixes I've made, so keep an eye out for more content. I will admit Armor for Sleep seems to be doing better too. lol.

As things get rolling I hope to have more content to share there. I do have a 21+ track list of instrumental cover / remixes where I take a rap instrumental and make it a metal instrumental, changing the genre entirely. So yea, more stuff still on the way.

I should point out that these are not for profit. Simply my own fan remixes that I am sharing. While they may be full tracks, you should absolutely support your artist of choice for the effort and work they put in and share with the world.

Currently, I'm just working away on fixing some of the links for the page. So far I've corrected my "Contact Box" links.

As for now...

Add to Friends: will have you follow me here on Neocities.

Block User: simply sends you back to the Neocities homepage. But why would you want to block me anyway?

Send Message: provides you with the ability to DM me on Facebook if you decide to, or even use it. Note: You must be logged in for it to work correctly.

I also plugged my TikTok profile in the "Contact Box" too! The search bar is also fixed. It actually works with Neocities directly, so using it brings you into a live Neocities search result page.

Hey everyone!

This is the very first entry on my "Profile404" blog. You can consider it a placeholder for now, but soon this space will be filled with updates, random thoughts, projects I'm working on, and whatever else happens to catch my interest.

What to Expect: Expect a mix of technology, gaming, music, art, and the occasional trip down a rabbit hole. Nothing too serious, just genuine posts from someone who likes to keep learning and exploring.