Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite source On Google.
ZDNET Highlights
- CoPilot can be disabled, uninstalled, or blocked from returning to Windows.
- Removing Copilot may improve performance and reduce resource usage.
- To fully complete Copilot, advanced settings are required.
Microsoft keeps promoting its Copilot AI as the greatest invention since the wheel. To this end, the company is incorporating more and more AI into Windows with the belief that everyone is yearning for an “agentic OS”. Well, based on feedback from most users, this is absolutely not true.
In fact, the more Microsoft keeps promoting AI as some white knight to save Windows users, the more people are pushing back against it. Main argument?
Too: No, Microsoft Office wasn’t renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot – that’s why you’re confused
Instead of spending so much time and energy on AI, Microsoft should focus on fixing the many bugs, glitches, and vulnerabilities that still affect Windows. Instead of being served an agentic OS, people simply want a cleaner and more reliable platform that hosts their applications and files without all the AI hassles and whistles.
Although CoPilot is built into Windows, AI itself is not a bad thing. I use Copilot in Windows from time to time, and it can be helpful. I enjoy chatting with my favorite British co-pilot voice to get help or tips on various topics. But I try to use it sparingly and judiciously. This is because, like any AI, Copilot is far from perfection.
The copilot can make mistakes. It may provide false information, which may also be called hallucination. If you are not careful it can compromise your private data. It can also hoard memory and system resources if you use it heavily. For those and other reasons, you might want to disable or remove Copilot from Windows so it no longer gets in your way.
How to Disable or Remove Copilot from Windows
Putting the kibosh on CoPilot is essentially the same in both Windows 10 and 11. Here, I will use Windows 11 as a guinea pig. I’ll also present this in different levels of steps so you can disable and remove CoPilot as much or as little as you want.
By default, the CoPilot Windows app likes to start automatically as soon as you launch the OS. So simply, it’s chewing up a piece of memory. To remove it from your startup routine but otherwise keep it around, right-click the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the menu. On the Task Manager window, click the Startup Apps icon. Right-click the entry for CoPilot and select Disable from the menu.
Also: Gemini vs Copilot: I compared AI tools on 7 everyday tasks, and there’s a clear winner
show more
Alternatively, go to Settings, select Apps, and then click Startup. Turn off the switch for Copilot.
There is a downside here. If you open CoPilot and then close its window, the app remains in memory, again taking up system resources. To actually close the app, you have to right-click on its system tray icon and select Quit.
Alternatively, go to the Windows 11 Start menu and either scroll down the screen or go to the Apps section. Right-click the entry for CoPilot and select Uninstall. Any action will remove CoPilot from Windows.
Ah, but there’s more to do if you want to get rid of CoPilot altogether. Even if you uninstall it, the app may resurface courtesy of a future Windows update.
To prevent any future installation of CoPilot via Windows Update, you need to turn on Group Policy on your PC.
Press Win+R to display the Run dialog box. Type in text field gpedit.msc And click on OK.
In the Group Policy Editor, go to the following section:
User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows components Windows CoPilot.
Open the setting for “Turn off Windows Copilot” and set it to Enabled. Click OK and then close the editor.
Also: I tested all of Edge’s new AI browser features — and it felt like I had a personal assistant
show more
Windows 11 Home doesn’t come with a Group Policy Editor, so you’ll have to hack the registry if you’re running this version. In the Run window, type regedit to open the Registry Editor. Go to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows.
Right-click in the empty area on the right, go to New and select Key. Name it WindowsCopilot. With the WindowsCopilot key selected, right-click on it, go to New and select DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value turnoffwindowscopilot. Double-click the value, set the value data to 1, and then click OK.
Also: AI PCs aren’t selling and Microsoft’s PC partners are scrambling
show more
Even after Copilot is gone, some AI components and hooks remain in Windows. You can delete them, but the process usually involves more Group Policy changes and registry edits. However, there are some automated scripts you can use to handle the process instead.
First, called a script on GitHub remove windows ai Lets you choose which AI components you want to remove. Created by an account named zoicware, it works quite easily through PowerShell.
Also: 9 things I always do after installing Windows 11 – and why you should too
I’ve run the script in Windows test VMs, and it appears to work as promised. Without knowing what it’s doing behind the scenes, I might be wary of running it on a production machine. If you try it, I would recommend you to turn on the built-in system protection feature to create a system restore point beforehand.
show more
Another option is available through the free Flyob tool, which typically lets you upgrade any Windows 10 PC to the plain, vanilla flavor of Windows 11. With the latest version of Flyob, you can control and remove various AI settings.
Also: I Gave Up Linux for Windows 11 for a Week – and Found 9 Big Problems
After installing the program, run the downloaded FlyOOBE.exe file as administrator. In the program, click the Details button under AI Experience, and then select Check. The tool will scan your system to see which AI components are enabled. Click the checkbox for the one you want to disable and then select the button for Turn off selected. Like removing Windows AI, I would recommend creating a system restore point beforehand just to be safe.
