Delaying Windows Copilot

[hlewton]

I read an article by Susan Bradley from Askwoody that gives instructions on how to protect us from Windows Copilot since many things are unknown. She also advises to delay October's updates. In her instructions she says to do this:
” Launch Group Policy Editor on your local computer (Windows Pro and above) and go to Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates; then go to Windows Components | Windows Update | Manage end user experience and find Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default. Make sure this item is disabled."
I managed to follow her instructions on only one of my three Windows 11 Pro machines. On the other 2 machines there was no

Manage End User Experience,

to be found.

I went back and checked the one machine I was able to set the "Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default," to Disabled. The

Manage End User Experience,

was no longer on that machine either.

Does this mean that on the 2 computers I could not find it at all that they too have the

"Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default,"

disabled?

[Rebel]

Since this article was published on the AskWoody site, might you not have a better chance of getting an answer (maybe even from the author) in the AskWoody Forums?

[hlewton]

Since this article was published on the AskWoody site, might you not have a better chance of getting an answer (maybe even from the author) in the AskWoody Forums?

No I don't think so. I post there so infrequently that when I do post it has to be approved before it is posted even though I have started 221 threads there over the years. For that reason and for a more personal one, I believe my chances of getting a helpful post here are much greater.

In a related problem, Microsoft's latest cumulative update today placed a Copilot preview icon on my taskbar. It does not have an "unpin" option. How can I remove it from the task bar?

[stuck]

...In her instructions she says to do this... ...Does this mean that on the 2 computers I could not find it at all that they too have the

"Enable features introduced via servicing that are off by default,"

disabled?

No idea but do think Ms Bradley is being a bit over cautious. She is advocating explicitly setting a policy to 'disabled' when the description of that policy (which you can see in her screen shot) explicitly states that:

If this policy is set to "Not configured" or "Disabled" then...

That is to say, leaving this policy at its default value of "Not Configured" will have the same effect as messing with it and changing the value to "Disabled". For that reason, I left it alone. OK so MS might not honour their own description of this policy and shove something onto my machine but I only have one PC and a laptop that are purely for my personal use, I'm not running a business on them.

...Microsoft's latest cumulative update today placed a Copilot preview icon on my taskbar. It does not have an "unpin" option. How can I remove it from the task bar?

Again I have no idea but when the September patches, landed on my machines the other day, i.e. the patches pushed out on Tues 12th Sept but delayed by Group Policy, they did not add any sort of Copilot icon on my TaskBar, nor in my System Tray. I suggest you look at your update history and check that you haven't inadvertently installed the 'preview' update that was pushed out with the regular patches. If you have, uninstall that preview update and I think you'll find that gets rid of the Copilot icon.

Ken

[hlewton]

Again I have no idea but when the September patches, landed on my machines the other day, i.e. the patches pushed out on Tues 12th Sept but delayed by Group Policy, they did not add any sort of Copilot icon on my TaskBar, nor in my System Tray. I suggest you look at your update history and check that you haven't inadvertently installed the 'preview' update that was pushed out with the regular patches. If you have, uninstall that preview update and I think you'll find that gets rid of the Copilot icon.

Ken

I didn't make myself clear and I apologize for that. When I went to the Windows Update site today, Oct. 5, 2023, there was an accumulative update available for download and installing. Since this was not the updates that I was reading and being warned about, I let them install on my machines. That is what installed Copilot Preview on my Taskbar. Please see attachment. That is what I would like to remove.

Copilot.jpg

[JoeP]

The only way to remove Copilot is to uninstall the cumulative update. That is not advisable as it contains multiple security updates too. Be aware though that the next cumulative update will do the same thing. You can't separate Copilot by itself. Microsoft wants everyone on Windows 11 to have Copilot. An alternative way is to disable Copilot by removing all vestiges of Bing and Edge from your PC. Copilot can not work without those. The task of removing those two is not the easiest.

[HansV]

@Stuck: As far as I know, Copilot is currently being rolled out to Windows 11 users in some markets only. It is not yet available in Europe (including the UK, if you'll allow me... )

[hlewton]

I found a way to remove it from my taskbar by doing a quick search of the Internet. It can be removed under Settings>Personalization>Taskbar

[stuck]

I found a way to remove it from my taskbar...

Thanks, now when this delight eventually lands on my Win 11 laptop, I know how to get rid of it.

Ken

[JoeP]

That only removes Copilot from the taskbar. It is still present in the system and can be invoked by WIN+C. IMO, you are going to have an increasingly difficult time avoiding Copilot. Microsoft wants everyone to use it.

[Rebel]

This might help. How-To Geek has published a method to completely disable Copilot in Win11 Pro by using the Group Policy Editor and in Win11 Home by using the Registry Editer. This may be similar to Bradley's instructions.

[hlewton]

This might help. How-To Geek has published a method to completely disable Copilot in Win11 Pro by using the Group Policy Editor and in Win11 Home by using the Registry Editer. This may be similar to Bradley's instructions.

That was a lot of help. Seems to make more sense than what I originally posted especially because it was on each of my machines. Thank you.

Bradley's instructions may have been helpful if, as mentioned in my opening post, that Manage End User Experience, had been on every machine, which in my case, it was not. By the way, I did email her asking for an explanation of why that was. I still do not know.

[hlewton]

This might help. How-To Geek has published a method to completely disable Copilot in Win11 Pro by using the Group Policy Editor and in Win11 Home by using the Registry Editer. This may be similar to Bradley's instructions.

Does using the Group Policy Editor make changes to the Registry?
I found this when searching for an answer:

Local policy has the lowest precedence and therefore will be overridden by any settings configured in domain policies applied later. With that said, anyone with local admin rights can override individual Group Policy settings via the registry.

That is why I asked the question and because I don't know what domain policies means even after reading this:

Default Domain Policy — Establishes baseline settings for all users and computers in a domain in three key areas: password policy, account lockout policy and Kerberos policy. Default Domain Controllers Policy — Establishes baseline security and auditing settings for all domain controllers in a domain..

[stuck]

...I don't know what domain policies means...

Try this as a starting point on Group Policy:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_Policy

Ken

[hlewton]

Thank you.