How do I completely get rid of copilot, and stop it reappearing?

Question

How do I completely get rid of copilot, and stop it reappearing?

Alex P 20

I purposefully went through the process of declining the embedded copilot add on in the 365 subscription, thinking this would protect me from this obnoxious software, yet it keeps popping up everywhere.

It seems Microsoft wants to jam it down my throat regardless of my preferences. I have tried turning it off and uninstalling the app, but I know it is still snooping around in the background - for example, it is still in my browser.

I am almost at the point of blowing away Windows and converting everything to Linux as I find MS business practices unconscionable, I can't stand the ads and the requirement for me to login or have an online account for everything.

I have already converted one laptop to Linux, I am so close to getting rid of MS alltogether. Hoping this trend picks up and MS gets the message.

Alex P 20 Reputation points

2025-11-21T10:15:35.87+00:00

running Windows 11 Home Edition

1 answer

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Alex P 20 Reputation points

2025-11-21T10:15:35.87+00:00

running Windows 11 Home Edition

Answer 1

Thomas4-N 4,950 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Alex P, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I understand how frustrating it feels when features you’ve opted out of keep showing up.

Copilot is now integrated into Windows and Microsoft Edge as part of the operating system design, so there isn’t a supported way to remove it completely. Even if you uninstall the app or hide the button, some components remain because they’re tied to system features and will return with updates.

Here's some steps you can try to partially reduce its presence:

Uninstall the Copilot app: Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Copilot > Uninstall, or use PowerShell. This removes the app temporarily, but cumulative updates or the Microsoft Store can reinstall it.
Hide the Copilot button and sidebar: Use Taskbar settings or apply Group Policy/Registry changes to turn it off. Keep in mind that updates may re-enable these settings.
Disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge: Open Edge settings > Sidebar > Turn off Copilot. This is separate from the OS-level integration.

However, in the whole picture, there’s no supported method to permanently block Copilot. It’s treated as a protected system component and will reinstall with cumulative updates and Store auto-updates.

If you prefer an environment without these integrations, switching to Linux is a valid option.

Warm regards,

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Thomas4-N 4,950 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-23T11:05:06.6+00:00

Hi Alex P,

Just checking in to see if the above information was helpful.

Have you had a chance to check the answer provided? Any update would be appreciated.

If you think my reply is helpful, please remember to mark it as Accepted Answer. Warm thanks.
JOHN SMITH 5 Reputation points

2025-11-24T14:59:10.5633333+00:00

I appreciate the original question from Alex P, and the response from Thomas4-N.
I was, and still am, frustrated by Co-Pilot like Alex P.

Microsoft doesn't seem to understand WHY people are frustrated with Co-Pilot. I share Alex's opinion that CO-Pilot is just shoved upon everyone, all the time.

I use MS Office, and MS Word. I've done it since the days of Win 3.2, 3.5, and especially the Win 95 days. Anyway, whenever I wanted to use MS Word I selected the icon to Open MS Word, it opened, and I started typing, and did not have some sort of AI BS, which I am not interested in using, in my way trying to offer assistance I DO NOT NEED, or WANT! Co-Piot is for people who don't know how to get the things done they want to get done, and instead of creating an icon for those people to voluntarily choose to open Co-pilot for assistance, MS has just decided to force Co-Pilot upon us all.

You know what is funny about all of this? I actually liked Cortana, but didn't even realize it was on my machine for years. Now you've done away with Cortana, instead of just moving the name we all knew, and liked, to this new iteration of AI, and now we are dealing with something that is annoying, with yet another stupid MS name.

I do not want to see Co-pilot every time I open a new Word document. It is really starting to piss me off. I want to open Word, and start typing.

I have tested Chat GPT, Gemini, and Grok. I personally like and use Grok, I have no desire at this time to use MS Co-Pilot.

For God sake re-name Co-pilot to Cortana, or something cool. Hell, you could even name it Bill, after Bill Gates. Or, how about Turing? The problem is, no one knows anything about the MS AI. It;s not competing with Grok, Chat GPT, Gemini, etc. That is why it is worthless to me. If you want me to use it, then get it up to the level of those AI's, or get some better PR for it. Don't force it on all of us. Please add the ability to turn it off, unless we want to use it. Thanks
Daniel Acevedo 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T19:02:47.62+00:00

+1, pretty useless pop up each freaking time I open a different file in excel, no I don't want to chat with copilot thank you, and no way to turn it off, 20 times a day, but in the rare case I want to use the =copilot() function, opps, too bad #BLOCKED! error, thank you shitcrosoft
rae 11 Reputation points

2025-11-26T15:30:58.36+00:00

Copilot is a virus
eoin meagher 0 Reputation points

2025-11-30T13:54:27.74+00:00

Absolutely agree with the comments here. Microsoft clearly doesn't care about our opinions though. Whenever I try to upvote a comment I am told I need to sign in, even when I am signed in.

They are silencing us. Linux it is!
S 0 Reputation points

2025-11-30T15:36:31.0566667+00:00

Unacceptable! This better not be connected to the web, sharing whatever it finds in MY pc with servers without express permission, instead of the 'you agreed to the tos' canvas permissions and your users not even aware of what it's doing! We all know your abysmal reputation with personal user data, and this seems like we all will need to find out how Linux works, bc there's no way your ai is getting access to MY files.

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How do I completely get rid of copilot, and stop it reappearing?

1 answer

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