Copilot, under the table

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AI By Will Fastie I’m used to getting regular updates to the operating system on my Android phone, Samsung’s One UI. That’s because I can’t do much ab
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katiedid, Sky, fisher75, Casey S, DLivesInTexas, IBM1130, lmacri

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Microsoft adding ‘Ask Copilot’ to the Context Menu in Windows 11 and 10

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I find that change much less disturbing than what Will Fastie sees on his phone. The Context Menu items are easily ignored during everyday tasks. But the overwriting of Contacts with Copilot and similar foistware is really pushing my tolerance of Microsoft products and services.

I just found something in the BIOS of a motherboard which has ASUS under the hood, but was sold as Powerspec by the Micro Center. This BIOS automatically installs Q Installer or Armoury Crate, and tries to register the motherboard with a mothership server at ASUS. Unfortunately, the server has at some point been taken offline or moved to a new location. But the Registration Installer keeps running at Windows Startup, like a zombie. It interferes with Windows boot and impacts system performance, until it is manually dismissed.

So how did I just now find out about this baked-in foistware? I ran the Windows 11 24H2 installation. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided to enable this sleeping BIOS “feature”. No notification before, during or after this change. TO MY BIOS!! Fortunately, this change is reversible. But I had to go through three or four forums and a You Tube video to find out what had happened. Even the ASUS RoG Forums had little or no information on what was happening, and why it was triggered now, three years after I bought and set up the PC.

BTW, I did install Armoury Crate as driver updating software, voluntarily. I would be using it to this day if the BIOS tie-in had not been revealed. So, if I want an up to date BIOS for this motherboard, I will have this major annoyance to deal with.

Kind of puts the current Microsoft shenanigans into some perspective, if you ask me.

But Microsoft never asked me.

 

-- rc primak

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rbailin

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Microsoft has always been sneaky.

Imagine if you were less computer savvy. That’s what MS is counting on.

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rc primak

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Will, I can’t believe this is the first time you’ve found Microsoft to do what it wants to do, rather than what its customers want to do. It’s always thought it knows better than its users.

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rc primak

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Every time I read about Microsoft’s high-handed tactics I am reminded of what Sam Spade says in “The Maltese Falcon” — “When you’re slapped you’ll take it and like it.”

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No context menu items for Co-Pilot here:
Word:

Excel:

PowerPoint:

Before you ask, I scrolled both the Excel and PP menus and still not Co-Pilot.

I’ve completely eliminated Co-Pilot from my machines!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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WSphilbob57 wrote:

It’s always thought it knows better than its users.

I met Bill Gates before the IBM PC was introduced. I was a friend to the company for decades. I would say that for the first 25 years of the company, it very much took into consideration its customers. For the second semicentennial, it’s been less so.

Although I agree with you today, that’s not always been my thinking.

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TechTango, Alex5723

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Will Fastie wrote:

What this means is that Microsoft programmed the app to make sure the Copilot icon was visible, regardless of my own preferences about which icons I want on the toolbar.

Let me begin by saying that yesterday was the first time (since Copilot (New) appeared on the Taskbar many updates ago) that I’ve actually seen the active Copilot icon on my PC was yesterday, using Notepad. I clicked on the gear icon and clicked the disable button. Technically, it’s never been enabled, because there is no Microsoft telemetry on my Windows installation.

Your post piqued my curiosity. I very, very rarely use the Outlook.com email, and then only online from my PC, and I’ve never used it on my phone. I don’t have M365 Outlook set to pick it up. I also use a Samsung. I had to set Outlook up, sign in, etc. But your information intrigued me, so I went through the process to see if Microsoft snuck it in on me, too.

It did, but not in the same way. The Copilot icon was not where yours is. The only way I could see it is through the Microsoft Launcher, and then when I tap it, all I get is, “Copilot Chat is coming soon for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions”. There is a small Copilot icon on the bottom left of the launcher screen, but it is inert. There is no Copilot icon on the Outlook screen.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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PKCano, Will Fastie

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I’ve had 2 Android phones over the last 10 years. I’ve never had to update either of them – ever. The first was a Samsung Galaxy S6. Bought in 2015, disposed in 2025. 3G was deactivated in Australia in late 2024 and they took down half of the 4G phones with it. Now, you require a 4G phone with VoLTE to use the phone, so I updated to a cheap TCL 505.

The new phone has updates completely disabled. It was a trivial task.

With the Samsung, I ignored the update which was nothing more than a dot on the settings cog telling me there was an update available, but it never forced itself on me.

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What I have observed up to now vis-à-vis Copilot: As far as Microsoft 365 Apps, it cannot do its thing without telemetry, and with telemetry disabled, Copilot is inert.

As far as other applications, one must have a Microsoft account on the PC, and sign in using that account, or Copilot is inert.

I have disabled all MS telemetry on my PCs and my laptop, and I have no Microsoft account on any of my installations, so Copilot is just a dead duck, sorta mounted (hidden, in other words) in the background where I can’t even see it.

The only place I can see it is if I open Outlook on my Android phone, and it is inert there, as well. For me, Copilot is a non-issue. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason Copilot is inert on my phone is that Firefox is my default browser, complete with all the extensions I use with my PCs, which is pretty locked down.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Will Fastie

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