Screenshot by Lance Whitney/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET's key takeawaysCopilot can be disabled, uninstalled, or blocked from returning in Windows.Removing Copilot may improve performance and reduce resource use.Fully eliminating Copilot requires advanced settings.Microsoft keeps touting its Copilot AI as the greatest invention since the wheel. Toward that end, the company has been force-feeding more and more AI into Windows in the belief that everyone is yearning for an "agentic OS." Well, based on much of the user feedback, that's not quite the case.Also: No, Microsoft Office was not renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot - here's why you're confusedIn fact, the more Microsoft keeps promoting AI as some white knight riding in to rescue Windows users, the more that people have been pushing back. The main argument? Instead of devoting so much time and energy on AI, Microsoft should concentrate on fixing the many bugs, flaws, and weaknesses that still plague Windows. Rather than being served an agentic OS, people simply want a cleaner and more reliable platform that hosts their applications and files without all the AI bells and whistles.Though Copilot is built into Windows, the AI itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. I use Copilot in Windows from time to time, and it can be helpful. I do enjoy chatting with my favorite British Copilot voice to get help or suggestions on different topics. But I try to use it sparingly and judiciously. That's because like any AI, Copilot is far from perfect. Also: AI PCs aren't selling, and Microsoft's PC partners are scramblingCopilot can make mistakes. It can provide wrong information, aka hallucinate. It can tap into your private data if you're not careful. It can also hog up memory and system resources if you use it heavily. For those reasons and more, you may want to disable or remove Copilot from Windows so it no longer gets in your way. How to disable or remove Copilot from WindowsPutting the kibosh on Copilot is essentially the same in both Windows 10 and 11. Here, I'll use Windows 11 as the guinea pig. I'll also present this in steps of varying degrees so you can disable and remove Copilot as little or as much as you want. By default, the Copilot Windows app likes to start up automatically as soon as you launch the OS. So right off the bat, it's chewing up a chunk of memory. To remove it from your startup routine but otherwise keep it around, right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu. At the Task Manager window, click the icon for Startup apps. Right-click on the entry for Copilot and select Disable from the menu.Also: Gemini vs. Copilot: I compared the AI tools on 7 everyday tasks, and there's a clear winner