Microsoft Recall is now an explorer.exe dependency
TLDR:
Windows 11 v24H2 and beyond will have Recall installed on every system. Attempting to remove Recall will now break some file explorer features such as tabs.
YT Video (5min)
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What's an alternative to explorer?
Unfortunately, just switch to Linux is not an option.
What do you have against Linux?
As much as I love it, it just doesn't work for some people or situations.
Pfft, proprietary propaganda. How hard is it to let go of every app you're familiar with, learn half a dozen scripting languages, and memorize a hundred different commands in vim?
What you say is true, though I've become so jaded with Microsoft that I don't think there's any software or situation I'd use Windows for; I'd sooner switch to Mac.
Linux doesn't have the breadth of programs available that Windows does. Programs developed for Windows are sometimes better than their FOSS equivalents. Eg. I pay for Office, partially so my parents can use it and partially because it's just a better set of programs than any of the FOSS equivalents. I generally only find the Linux programs are better when it comes to computer management and maintenance.
So I run Linux for servers and Windows for PCs.
To each their own. Personally I can't stand MS Office, I think Google Docs is easier for most nontechnical people these days anyway. For the rare cases when Office is needed, the web version works fine on Linux.
LibreOffice works great, and WPS Office is proprietary but at least it's free.
Personally I write my documents in markdown and use pandoc to convert them into PDF or docx or whatever. It's like writing the source code and then compiling, I like it.
I'm sure you've looked into all that, but for anyone else who is interested in alternatives those are my recommendations.
I pay for Office, partially so my parents can use it and partially because it’s just a better set of programs than any of the FOSS equivalents.
Years ago I switched from MS OfficeXP to Open Office and then to Libre Office. For years I lamented how I missed Excel and the Libre Calc just does not cut it. Then I started working for a university in 2017 and I had to install MS Office on all of our laptops for presentations, I was so excited to have Excel again. Boy was I wrong. Libre Office was so much better, as was the entire suite. Maybe it is just familiarity.
You can prevent recall from running and collecting data, you just can't remove it entirely without breaking some features. I don't think you can replace the file explorer, it's your desktop n stuff as well as file exploring, but preventing recall from running might be your best bet. Or, alternatively, if you don't use the features that you lose in file explorer by removing recall then you might be fine just removing recall and continuing on.
I was thinking about disabling explorer from running or at least kill it at boot up. And then using an alternative file explorer and task bar.