I'm not sure if this is a tech tip or Malware removal but I'll post it since someone asked me to type it up for their needs anyway.
Group Policy Objects for fun and profit.
At specific issue is Copilot, but I addressed OneDrive while I was at it since I just hate it that much.
1. In general, the best way to manage annoying Windows features involves either Registry Edits or Group Policy Objects. Editing the Windows registry is not a good idea for end users, but changing GPOs generally isn't going to cause catastrophic issues, so that's what I'll describe. Group Policy Objects are generally edited with either The Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) or Group Policy Management (gpmc.msc).
Anyone using Intune can do pretty much the same things with that, but don't ask me how because I don't have access to it.
1a. Get gpedit.msc working on Home SKUs of Windows. Skip for Pro/Enterprise versions:
Run the following at an Administrative cmd or Windows Terminal session.
FOR %F IN ("%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientTools-Package~*.mum") DO (DISM /Online /NoRestart /Add-Package:"%F")FOR %F IN ("%SystemRoot%\servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy-ClientExtensions-Package~*.mum") DO (DISM /Online /NoRestart /Add-Package:"%F")
2. Administrative Templates or ADMX files. Microsoft makes extensions to Group Policy Settings available in a bunch of places. Onedrive includes some on systems where it's installed. So you have to install it to get the tool to manage it. Office ADMX files are on its web site and are version dependent. It's also useful to know that common third party applications like Firefox and Chrome have ADMX files. Generic Windows ADMX files may also need updates for
specific versions as new features are introduced. For example, I didn't see any control over Windows Recall in Group Policy Management on my work domain until I updated the files to support Win11 24H2.
In any case managing these for an organization means putting the relevant files in SYSVOL\domainname\policies\policydefinitions on your Domain Controller. On a single PC, they go in c:\windows\policydefinitions.
Once you have access to gpedit.msc, you can open up the group policy editor from Windows Search, a Run prompt or the Windows Terminal. You can set local policies to toss or restrict access to tools you don't like, although you may wish to research how thoroughly you want to remove various functions. It's notoriously difficult to remember where settings are, but generally speaking, things will live under User or Computer Configuration --> Administrative Templates somewhere.
For example, Onedrive lives at
Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\OneDrive. Turning off "Save Files to OneDrive by Default" and choosing to use a Local Account is a decent option for someone who MAY want to still access Onedrive for something-or-other, while enabling "Prevent Use of OneDrive for File Storage" may be a better overall option for others. I usually want to do one or the other.
Copilot
for Windows is pretty easy since the only GPO setting
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot > Disable CoPilot but Copilot is also part of Edge and separately Office 365 and 2019+.
If you manage an Office 365 Tenant, you can go in to your
Admin settings site and turn off "Connected Experiences" for your clients. If you manage clients that have 2019/2021/2024 versions of Office, you have to add the relevant .admx template and dig down to find the setting (
Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office WXYZ\ )that says "Allow the Use of Connected Experiences in Office" and disable it. This turns off some other online functions as well but there doesn't seem to be any more granular control than that.
Edge is kind of the same deal: You need the updated Edge .admx file in place on either the specific client PC or on the domain controller. Once you have that, the easiest fix to kill Copilot in Edge is to find a setting that says "Disable the Hubs Sidebar."
