Copying large files has always been problematic on my Windows 11 PC. Luckily, I now use another built-in copy feature called Robocopy for many file transfer tasks. Here’s how you can use this robust copy tool on your computer.

What Is Robocopy?

Robocopy is a built-in Windows 11 tool that allows you to copy files from one place to another. It’s a command-line tool, meaning you issue commands from tools like Command Prompt or PowerShell to transfer your files.

Robocopy offers way more features than the default copy feature. With this tool, you can resume broken transfers, use multi-threaded copying, and even schedule copying tasks.

How to Use Robocopy to Copy Files

To use Robocopy, you can use Command Prompt or PowerShell. I’ll show you how to use the former.

Access Windows Search (press Windows+S), type Command Prompt, and launch the tool. On the CMD window, you’ll use the following syntax to copy files using Robocopy. Here, you’ll replace the Source and the Destination variables with the source and the destination folder, respectively.

robocopy “Source” “Destination”

As an example, if you want to copy all the files from the D:\Documents folder over to the E:\Backups folder, you’ll use the following command:

robocopy “D:\Documents” “E:\Backups”

That’s the basic way to copy files using Robocopy.

You Can Use Several Parameters (Options) With Robocopy

While copying files with Robocopy, you can use various parameters to change how the tool works. Here are some of the common parameters you can use in your file copying tasks:

• /E: Copies all subfolders, even the empty ones
• /Z: Enables restartable mode
• /MT: Enables multi-threaded copying (faster file transfers)
• /MIR: Mirrors the source directory, meaning it deletes the files in the destination folder that aren’t present in the source directory
• /XD: Excludes specified folders
• /XF: Excludes specified files

Interesting Examples of File Transfers With Robocopy

You can use Robocopy in various ways to copy files from place to another on your Windows 11 PC. As for me, I find the following to be really good examples of how you can use this tool on your computer.

When I want to back up my documents, including the empty subdirectories, I use the following command:

robocopy “D:\Documents” “E:\Backup\Documents” /E

When I want to copy photos from one folder to another and remove all the photos in the destination folder that aren’t in the source folder, I run the following command. This ensures the destination folder only has the content from my source folder.

Robocopy will delete the files in the destination folder that aren’t available in the source folder. Proceed with caution.

robocopy “D:\Photos” “F:\Photos” /MIR

Sometimes, I don’t want all the folders from the source directory to be included in the copying task. I specify the folder to be excluded as follows:

robocopy “D:\Work” “E:\Backup\Work” /E /XD “D:\Work\Temp”

Make Copying Files Even Easier With Batch Files

There are file-copying commands that I run too often, and opening Command Prompt and typing those commands each time is a hassle. I’ve actually created multiple batch files that run my pre-defined Robocopy commands with a double-click.

If you want to do the same, launch Windows Search (press Windows+S), type Notepad, and open the app. In a new document, type or paste your Robocopy command. Then, from Notepad’s menu bar, select File > Save As.

On the Save As window, choose the folder to save your batch file (select Desktop for easy access). Click the “Save as Type” drop-down menu and choose “All Files.” Select the “File Name” field and type a name for your file. Make sure the name ends with .bat so it’s a batch file. Then, click “Save.”

From now on, whenever you want to run your Robocopy command, simply double-click the batch file you’ve created.

Schedule Robocopy Copying Tasks With Batch Files and Task Scheduler

I run a certain Robocopy command to back up certain files at a certain schedule. I do this by scheduling my Robocopy batch files with Task Scheduler.

If you’d like to do that, first, create the batch file that contains the command you want to run on a schedule. Then, open Windows Search (press Windows+S), type Task Scheduler, and launch the utility. On the right pane, click “Create Task.”

In the General tab, select the “Name” field and type a name for your task. Access the “Triggers” tab and click “New.” On the open window, choose when and how often you want your Robocopy command to run. Then, click “OK.”

Access the “Actions” tab and click “New.” Select the “Browse” button and choose your batch file. Then, click “OK” and select “OK” again.

Task Scheduler will now run your batch file at the specified date and time, copying your files automatically.

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And that’s how I use this robust tool to copy files on my PC. No more struggling with the default copy feature in Windows 11!

Depending on how you count them, there have been 15 major versions of Windows, with Microsoft’s inconsistent naming scheme resulting in the current version of Windows being Windows 11—go figure.

A lot has changed from the first version of this graphical operating system to today, but so much of what’s in Windows 11 today has been there from the start, or close to it. So I thought it would be interesting to point out the bits of Windows DNA that have been largely unchanged since the world first booted up Windows 1.0.

I’m using the pcjs.org site to run legacy versions of Windows such as Windows 1.0, and you can too. No special software needed, just visit the site and pick the virtual machine of your choice, then play around to experience what Windows was like over the ages.

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Windows Has Always Had…Windows

This might seem like the most obvious observation, but from day one Windows has had, well, windows. In Windows 1.0, different apps were in their own windows and could run at the same time. Windows could not yet overlap, but instead they would tile next to each other. In Windows 2.0, with more screen real estate and better graphics technology, windows could overlap.

Oddly enough, while tiling has also been there since the start, it only became genuinely useful with the advent of high-resolution displays and quality of life features such as window snapping and quick tiling templates.

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The Mouse as a Primary Input Device

Windows 1.0 was one of the first operating systems to be designed under the assumption that you’d have a mouse attached. While plenty of MS-DOS applications supported a mouse, Windows needed one to work as intended.

Of course, you can use Windows 1.0 and all subsequent versions of the OS without a mouse if you really have to. I once had to use our Windows 95 computer without a mouse for a year, because ours broke, and we couldn’t afford a new one for a while. I still use those keyboard shortcuts to this day.

That said, Windows is a pain with a keyboard only, and today it’s best to augment your mouse-based controls with a few tasty keyboard shortcuts. The age of Windows and its competitors heralded the time of the rodent, and it’s probably going to stay with us for a while yet.

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Menu Bars and Dropdown Menus

One important part of early graphical operating systems like Windows 1.0 is that they standardized the way different apps by different software developers operated. Under DOS, every app developer had their own take on how, for example, mouse-driven menus should work. On Windows, two word processors from different creators would have menu bars and dropdown menus that worked the same across the OS.

While we’ve had plenty of experiments with ribbons, sidebars, hamburger menus, and more, the top-level menu structure of applications in Windows today is still fundamentally the same as they were at the beginning.

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Minimize, Maximize, and Close Controls

In Windows 1.0, you could minimize, maximize, and close Windows using controls that wouldn’t feel too familiar to modern Windows users, but from Windows 2.0 and later these controls started to become more like the trio of buttons we all know and love today.

While Microsoft has bloated those controls a little with more functions and options, the fundamental window management controls are still the same, and I think any modern Windows user could figure out even Windows 1.0 in just a few minutes. After all, the big selling point of these new graphical operating systems was that you didn’t have to be a computer geek who memorized a bunch of commands to use a computer.

With easy-to-use buttons on each window, you can now flip between windows efficiently, though ironically, I personally mainly use my keyboard these days to flick between virtual desktops and cycle between open windows using Alt+Tab.

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Multitasking

Under MS-DOS, you have to close one program in order to work on another. One of the biggest innovations and productivity superchargers in Windows 1.0 was the ability to run multiple apps at the same time. Of course, since the computers of the time only had a single CPU core, “multitasking” was really just an illusion. However, the CPU switched between tasks so quickly that, from your perspective, your programs were all running at the same time.

Most importantly, this meant you could quickly switch between your programs, move data between them, and keep them all open and handy. Assuming you had enough memory or didn’t mind waiting for data to swap from your secondary storage. Today, Windows 11 is a multitasking monster, running hundreds or thousands of processes in the background, and, of course, thanks to technologies like hyperthreading and our massive multicore CPUs, multitasking isn’t a clever trick anymore. My Windows laptop has 24 cores!

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Notepad, Paint, and Calculator

With MS-DOS, you didn’t really get anything more than the basic applications you needed to operate the computer and run software. Think of utilities like CHKDSK or FORMAT. In Windows 1.0, Microsoft threw in a bunch of value-added software along with the operating system itself. Notable among these were Notepad, MS Paint, and Calculator.

Since then, every version of Windows has included these apps, and they are still useful and actively used by millions of people despite third-party attempts at offering alternatives. I’ve always used MS-Paint in every version of Windows to do basic image editing, and I still edit and annotate screenshots using it today. The calculator? It’s only become more sophisticated over time, and now you get a full scientific and graphics calculator thrown in with Windows. A graphing calculator is still a pretty expensive device to this day!

I think we don’t really consider the value that these applets add to Windows, especially MS Write, which was later replaced by MS WordPad in Windows 95. These basic word processors were more than enough for me to complete my school projects and assignments without the need for our family to buy expensive office suites.

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While so much of the core experience on Windows is still the same, what the future will hold is anyone’s guess. Obviously, other popular desktop operating systems all now look and operate more or less the same. Windows “borrowed” a lot from macOS, and the reverse is also true. Today, Linux distros and ChromeOS are all competing for the same niches. Will there still be Windows in a decade? I can’t say for sure, but if there’s a Windows 12,13, or 100, I bet it will still have MS-Paint!

Summary

• Windows Recall is back to record your activities on your Windows 11 PC so you can search them later. It’s still a privacy problem for many.
• Windows 11 Pro users can disable it permanently using Local Group Policy.
• Windows 11 Home users can prevent Recall from running by disabling Biometric authentication or device encryption, or not upgrading their PC.

Windows Recall, the AI-powered assistant that takes regular screenshots of your screen so that you can ask it about things you’ve done in the past, is back for good after (yet again) being recalled for privacy concerns. Here’s how Windows 11 Pro users can disable it (again, and this time hopefully forever).

A Windows Recall Refresher

Much has been written about the Windows Recall saga, but it’s worth a quick recap: Microsoft announced that Windows 11 would start taking regular screenshots while you use your PC so that it could be processed by AI, so that you can ask questions and look up your prior activity.

Everyone balked at this obvious security and privacy nightmare. It was then discovered that the screenshots (that would include your private PC usage, such as online banking, personal conversations, and so on) were stored unencrypted where any app could read them, justifying those concerns.

Microsoft then put Recall on hold while it made some tweaks and tried again. Then it came back, and more problems were pointed out, and back to the drawing board they went. Now, Recall is back again in its supposedly final form. Users can now opt specific applications and websites out of being recorded, but it’s almost certainly something that most won’t know about, or bother to do.

While there’s an option to turn off Recall in the Windows Settings app (and even though “off” is now supposed to be the default), some users seek a more permanent solution to make sure it doesn’t sneak back in, especially as Windows features have a strange habit of silently enabling themselves after operating system updates.

Of course, some people find this kind of thing useful and aren’t concerned about potential threats to their privacy. If you’re one of this enviable care-free group, you can skip the rest of this article and go and enjoy yourself. Seriously, ignorance is bliss when it comes to online privacy.

How to Disable Windows Recall on Windows 11 Pro

The Pro edition of Windows 11 lets you access the Local Group Policy Editor (so do the Enterprise and Education editions, but most people don’t use these at home). This tool lets you make tweaks and configuration changes to your Windows system beyond what is available in the Control Panel or Settings app.

Now that Recall is being rolled out for real this time, Group Policy settings are available to turn it off completely, and hopefully permanently. As Group Policy is used by many enterprise entities to control how data is used for compliancy reasons, it’s unlikely this setting will be overruled by a future update.

So, here’s how to disable Windows Recall using Local Group Policy: Right-click on the Start button, click Run, enter the command “gpedit.msc” and then press OK to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.

Then, navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI in the navigation tree to the left.

Double-click on the “Turn off saving snapshots for use with Recall” setting to edit it, change its value to Enabled, then click OK to close the change. Close the Local Group Policy Editor, and you’re done. Goodbye Recall.

If you’re curious about the impact of changing this setting, you can read the official Microsoft documentation for it.

Recall Workarounds for Windows 11 Home Users

If you haven’t shelled out the extra money for Windows 11 Pro, you can still make sure Recall can’t run with a few workarounds. You can turn off Biometric authentication or disable device encryption and BitLocker, all of which are system requirements for Recall to function.

To remove biometric authentication and disable Windows Recall, open the Windows Settings app from the Start menu, then navigate to Accounts > Sign-in Options. Select each biometric option, then click the “Remove” button.

Keep in mind that disabling improved authentication methods and disk encryption could be a bad idea if you’re using a portable device or work in a shared environment where your Windows PC isn’t always 100% under your control.

Another option is just not to upgrade your PC to meet Windows Recall’s lofty system requirements, which isn’t all that difficult.

Making Windows More Safe, Secure, and Private

If you want to make Windows 11 more private, here are 6 features to disable, and additional 11 privacy settings to change.

Your operating system isn’t the only thing trying to spy on you: Spyware and malware are still prolific, and hackers and scammers are finding new ways to trick you into giving them access to your devices and accounts (or just steal your money).

Stay vigilant, use best-in-class antivirus, and follow security best practices. You can also give Linux a try—it sometimes takes a little bit of tech know-how, but it puts you in full control of your computing experience.

Microsoft is rolling out more changes to the Microsoft Store, the main app and games store on Windows 10 and 11. It now has more system integrations, faster performance, a Copilot button, and other updates.

The Microsoft Store is still not the best experience around. It’s filled with a lot of low-quality applications, and the general experience with downloading and managing games is worse than Steam and other competing stores.

Microsoft has been trying to fix the Store over the last few years with some design and functional updates. In Europe, the Store can now be completely uninstalled from Windows, thanks to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

Microsoft says it has “rearchitected how search works” in the Store, with updated rankings for based on app updates, ratings, and language-specific nuances. That should help you find higher-quality apps and games without digging through the junk software. The home page of the Microsoft Store will also now have “fresh recommendations based on recent activities, what’s trending in your region and the most recent deals.”

It wouldn’t be a Windows update without Copilot showing up, and sure enough, the chatbot is now coming to the Microsoft Store. It’s now a floating button in the corner, and if you click it, you can ask Copilot questions about the current app or game—Google just rolled out a similar feature in the Play Store for Android. The Copilot button is currently limited to PCs in the United States.

The Start menu in Windows 11 will now include results from the Microsoft Store, just like Spotlight on Mac and iPhone show results from the Apple App Store. The Store results include some basic information from the app listing, like the icon, description, and main screenshot, with a one-click button to start installation. Handy.

Suggested apps from the Microsoft Store will also start showing up in the ‘Open with’ menu from File Explorer. The blog post explains, “we’re experimenting with offering app suggestions to open select file extensions, which is particularly helpful if you don’t have an app for that extension, or haven’t selected a default app.” The suggestions are going live first for Insider testers in the United States and China.

Finally, Microsoft says the Store now “launches two times faster than it did six months ago,” thanks to several performance updates. The Microsoft Store has definitely been slow to open for me on various PCs over the years, so it’s great to see some progress in speeding it up.

Even though the Microsoft Store is preinstalled on most Windows computers, and it has been around since the Windows 8 days, most people still download software directly from websites or other stores. The new Start menu integration might funnel more people into the Microsoft Store, but it’s unlikely to break the habit of downloading EXE files straight from the web. Some of those executables will use the Microsoft Store for installation, though.

Source: Windows Blog