which nukes Copilot. Permanently.

This has been tested on my machine and seems to work so far.

The Code (to create the .reg file):

Open Notepad.

Paste the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]

“TurnOffWindowsCopilot”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]

“TurnOffWindowsCopilot”=dword:00000001

Save the file as DisableCopilot.reg.

Double-click it and select Yes to merge.

Restart your PC.

I'm starting to think that this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Redmond has been so estranged from its customers' needs for so long that it still believes that it can dictate company IT spending.

If the current doomsayers' oracles come to pass and Taiwan is absorbed by China, then several immediate consequences will come to light :

1) companies (and users) will no longer upgrade until the kit physically fails

2) Open-Source firewalls and other network surveillance tools will become the defacto resource for securing computers that Borkzilla has decided are no longer worthy of its attention

3) By the time Redmond wakes up to the apocalypse, Linux on the desktop might just have become a thing

And now I'm going to go take my dried frog pills. Nurse !

Your options 1) and 3) are already happening on a large scale.

The surveillance on Steroids of W11 is giving businesses nightmares. Not only businesses but whole governments. Then along comes their attempt at AI aka CoPilot which is more AI Slop but it will get everywhere in windows. Even Solitaire might not escape because MS wants it everywhere as it grabs even more user information that they can process and sell to ad slingers.

For many end users in the Corporate world, 90% of their work can be done via a browser. Give them a different desktop OS and suddenly the flow of information to MS goes away. Things that should remain inside the business will remain. That's a win-win and a lose-lose for MS.

If you can ditch MS... do it now. It makes sense. STOP THE SLURP.

The part that I don't understand is that they're trying to push AI etc. to their business and enterprise customers, who are the ones who actually spend money.

Home users mostly just have a copy of Windows from their OEM, so I can see why Microsoft try and up sell them (even if I don't like it). I'm not sure why they're trying to alienate their real customers.

*(or should that be 'AI-lienate'? Not sure the joke works in a san-serif font)

....do these guys think they are? They might not like to hear it, but they work for us, not the other way around.

So basically to remove copilot permanently you MUST have a copilot enterprise-grade subscription active for each user.

And it must remain active and unused to KEEP Copilot blocked! hehehe

If you are using Intune (as many businesses will be) you can just create an app rule for each version of Copilot, and assign all devices to the 'uninstall' option.

Yes, I have done that...

Now, I'm a little cynical (just a little... honest!)

What's to stop an app, such as, say, Word, or Excel, calling co-pilot on the QT, so it looks like the user has run it, even if they were completely unaware of doing so?

What's to stop Microslop (I do like this new name for MS - better than M$!) from installing copilot again after it's been disabled as part of patching or upgrades or as part of a separate package then report the user installed it, even though (again) the user was completely unaware it was in the install - or they were not given the choice NOT to install (other than not installing the patch, upgrade or even software they actually do need)?

What SHOULD happen is Co-pilot should be an Option. One you can select to install, OR leave unselected so it does NOT install. That's the only moral approach to this: Make it an option the user has to select.

I know: it's the opt-in/opt-out argument once more...

What more need be said?

Using AdvancedRun.exe, users can run software under the Trusted Installer context (read godmode). Once in godmode, RClick on any app/folder to alter its ACL, removing ALL rights to that item. Once done, that item cannot execute nor update under any circumstances. This is the most reliable way to control the more "difficult to control" aspects of windows -to make windows behave. I don't know a thing about Win 11 other than I'll never use it, but great care must be taken when in the "Trusted Installer" context, you can easily destroy windows as well as fix it, such as uninstalling Windows "defender". If unsure, test your fixes in a VM first, being sure to reboot after adjustments. And as tempting as might be, don't RClick on entire reg hives to take ownership, windows doesn't like that. So use this trick in as limited a manner necessary and only to do single task, not global takeovers.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/advanced_run.html

Sry should have added a caveat. Doing something like I suggested above with AdvancedRun will probably break Windows Updates. So if you play Russian Roulette and allow Windows Updates, you'll want to undo any such edits before updating. Personally, the last update I ran was SP1 for Win 7; which broke a lot of things. Since then, I've never updated again and instead rely on security to protect the soft under-belly of windows instead of updates.

Day 1 -

Look at me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me........

[Day 27] click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me, click me, [click] gotcha, look here click, I'm here click me, click me, clicky, now I'm here, now I'm there, now I look like the shut down button, click me....

[Admin - "remove copilot"] Ah sorry, one of your users, clicked on the copilot icon on the 23rd hour of day 27, it opened for 30ns before they hit close, so clearly your entire organisation, nay country, has now clearly and unabiguously demonstarted it's undeniable demand for the glory of copilot which may never ever be removed now mwahahahahah!!!!