Removing Copilot from Windows 10 (at least today)

It finally happened — after my latest Windows update, I had a Copilot button on my desktop. I didn’t ask for it, didn’t want it, but Microsoft knows better than you do. Here’s my best attempt to kill it with fire.

1. Remove it from Edge. Open Edge, go to Settings, type Copilot, click on that and turn off “Show Copilot”.

2. Remove it from the task bar by clicking “Unpin from Taskbar”

3. Run gpedit.msc and go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Copilot. Open that and double-click on “Turn off Windows Copilot.” Select “Enabled”.

4. Make sure you have TurnOffWindowsCopilot set to 1 (DWORD 32-bit) under HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot.

5. Uninstall the Windows Copilot component under Add/Remove Software.

6. Block copilot.microsoft.com connections at DNS.

local-zone: "copilot.microsoft.com" redirect
local-data: "copilot.mircosoft.com A 127.0.0.1"

Odds are good that won’t be sufficient, but maybe that will last until Microsoft gives up on Windows 10 updates.