Does anyone know how Microsoft Remote Desktop connection got into my device

Windows 11 is it?

This is not normal. To be shown in Uninstall Program.

I had one myself and tried to check it. But cant trace anymore. I removed it.

So I was looking through my control panel and saw this program I don’t remember installing it’s made by Microsoft and is called Remote Desktop connection I searched it up and it is made by Microsoft I checked my download history and didn’t see anything on august 22nd which is when it said it was downloaded but when I checked my updates I had 3 updates installed on the 22nd I’m scared that someone got access to my pc does anyone know if windows updates can install Microsoft programs onto your pc?

...so I first noticed this when I installed Windows 11 to a separate partition several months back. It was a fresh, new installation and upon the initial/first boot of the new OS, I went to the list of installed apps in Settings to uninstall Microsoft OneDrive (how obnoxiously annoying) as I normally do and I noticed "Remote Desktop Connection" was installed. Since I was new to Windows 11, I assumed this was default and uninstalled the application and rebooted. HOWEVER, a couple of days ago my Windows 10 installation became corrupt so I had to format/re-install the OS and upon first boot I once again found "Remote Desktop Connection" was installed and had to manually uninstall and reboot. I had never seen this before and I was concerned that my system somehow carried over spyware or a trojan allowing remote access. I did a little research (mostly google searches) and from what I could quickly gather, this was being deemed as "default behavior". But last night I was lying in bed thinking about this and decided to investigate further.

It wasn't until I read EmilyS726 's reply that something seemed peculiar. It was the line:

"It is worth noting that certain updates or changes to your Windows installation might change which features or programs are installed or activated, and updates can indeed sometimes include new functionalities or apps."

..."It is worth nothing" really stuck with me. So I attempted to re-create the Windows 10 installation in a safe virtual environment to test this statement's authenticity.

IT IS FALSE.

WINDOWS 10, AT LEAST THE HOME AND PROFESSIONAL VERSIONS, DOES NOT AND NEVER HAS INSTALLED REMOTE DESKTOP CONNECTION BY DEFAULT EITHER DURING THE INITIAL OS INSTALLATION OR ANYTIME THEREAFTER, WITHOUT THE USER EXPRESSLY OR MANUALLY INSTALLING SUCH A CONNECTION THEMSELVES. IT IS ABSOLUTELY MALICIOUS IN NATURE AND YES, YOU SHOULD BE VERY CONCERNED.

The way I came to find this out was quite simple. I installed VirtualBox inside a Linux distribution/OS that I have installed on an external hard drive. I then installed a fresh, brand-new Windows 10 OS into that virtual machine within Linux and what do you know, "Remote Desktop Connection" was not installed or locatable anywhere within the newly-installed OS. I went a step further and decided to enable network connectivity to this virtual machine so that it could update/install updates and missing software via Windows Update and EVEN AFTER LETTING WINDOWS UPDATE FULLY INSTALL SEVERAL HUNDRED MEGABYTES OF UPDATES, DRIVERS, AND FIRMWARE, THERE WAS STILL NO "REMOTE DESKTOP CONNECTION" ANYWHERE IN THE ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS LIST.

This type of sh** makes me wonder how many "Independent Advisors" are out there giving false information and spreading rumors of malicious behavior being supposedly NORMAL to hundreds, maybe even thousands of consumers. Microsoft does absolutely NOTHING to vet these so-called Independent Advisors (more like Independent fu******* MORONS) and so the more and more they can spread this type of absolutely-false information, the more they can then normalize their scammy, lazy methods of gaining access into and manipulating the inner-workings of, consumer systems across the globe. I AM SICK OF SCAMMERS. I hope they all get what they deserve and if Perogi is still doing his thing then they no doubt are. (ScammerPayback via YouTube). I hope you all goto prison for scamming people, mostly elderly people, and I hope you meet Bubba while you're there!

It's another one of those apps Microsoft auto installs probably in an update. I noticed after removing it that it came back.

After the 23H2 update it was back in apps list. I don't really feel that comfortable with a remote access application installed all the time. Especially since this would be an ideal attack vector for hackers.

It is normally a part of Windows, but it has never until recently appeared in the list in control panel / programs & features.

I've noticed it appearing there recently on quite a few computers (Windows 10 and 11). Why has it suddently started appearing in that list?

The answer which you have maked as the 'answer' doesn't actually answer the question!