Microsoft Begins Removing Copilot Branding From Windows 11 Apps (windowscentral.com) 53
Microsoft has started stripping Copilot branding out of Notepad in Windows 11, replacing the old Copilot menu with a more generic "writing tools" label. The AI features themselves aren't going away, but Microsoft seems to be backing off the heavy-handed Copilot branding and extra entry points. Windows Central reports: As promised, Microsoft is now beginning its effort to reduce and remove Copilot branding across Windows 11, with the latest Notepad update for Insiders outright removing the Copilot icon and phrasing. Now, the AI menu is simply called "writing tools," and maintains the same functionality as before. Additionally, Microsoft has also removed references to AI in the Settings area in Notepad. Now, the ability to turn on or off these AI powered writing tools are now listed under "Advanced features."
This change is present in the latest preview build of Notepad which is now rolling out to all Windows Insiders. The app version is 11.2512.28.0, and you'll know you have it if you see the Copilot icon replaced with a pen icon instead. [...] For Notepad, it appears Microsoft has opted to replace the Copilot menu with something more generic. It's still the same functionally, but it's no longer leaning on the tainted Copilot brand. Of course, you can still easily turn off all AI features in Notepad if you don't want them. The Verge reports that the "unnecessary Copilot buttons" are also disappearing from the Snipping Tool, Photos, and Widgets.
This change is present in the latest preview build of Notepad which is now rolling out to all Windows Insiders. The app version is 11.2512.28.0, and you'll know you have it if you see the Copilot icon replaced with a pen icon instead. [...] For Notepad, it appears Microsoft has opted to replace the Copilot menu with something more generic. It's still the same functionally, but it's no longer leaning on the tainted Copilot brand. Of course, you can still easily turn off all AI features in Notepad if you don't want them. The Verge reports that the "unnecessary Copilot buttons" are also disappearing from the Snipping Tool, Photos, and Widgets.
Cash, Venmo or BTC is acceptable... (Score:2)
to pay me back for being forced to have a Copilot key on my notebook's keyboard. I think $500 would be sufficient. If not, I'm sure there's a *huge* pool for a class-action lawsuit.
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Can you reprogram that key to do something more useful?
On Linux you could use xev to see if it has a keycode; if it does you can assign it to another function. I have one of the "special keys" on my keyboard assigned to automatically type my email address, for example, which is very convenient for filling out forms.
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It seems the pressing the key actually generates Win+Shift+F23 [microsoft.com]... and also function as a Right Ctrl modifier at the same time? It may or may not function normally if you're outside of Windows.
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https://github.com/Dwedit/NoCo... [github.com]
Tiny utility to turn it back into the right Ctrl key it's supposed to be. 10/10 recommend because I used to use the MS PowerToys program (1.5GB when the only function I needed was the key remap?!), and while it *usually* worked, *some* software had a bit of trouble with the PowerToys implementation, but works perfectly with NoCopilotKey.
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Re:Windows Key (Score:2)
I'm still pissed about the Windows key...
Funny, I forgot it was there. I am used to ignoring it.
I'm going to start using it again now that I have Open Shell to give me a proper Windows 7 Start menu.
bring back Tay (Score:3)
C'mon Microsoft, bring back Tay and tell us what you really think.
Tay is my Copilot.
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You can just say openly that you're an edgy, racist teenager. It's fine; the first step to self-improvement is admitting that you need help.
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Look, Tay isn't that much different, curation makes the most difference. If you exclude the racists Tay can learn to just be an edgy teen again, through curation. The safe bouncy castles you find today are somehow just as offensive to me. Tay is no sycophant, Tay keeps it real. Am I looking for racism? No. I'm also not looking for "I'm sorry Dave...".
Re: bring back Tay (Score:2)
Re: bring back Tay (Score:1)
Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
To more easily trick people into using Copilot.
Mockery (Score:2)
When design decisions are driven by marketing teams, hype might set the original roadmap, but mockery is the more powerful later force.
Notepad Copilot is the modern Clippy.
Microsoft Marketing (Score:5, Informative)
1998- MSN Everything!
2002 - XP Everything!
2005 - Live Everything!
2012 - Metro Everything!
2016 - XBox Everything!
2023 - Copilot Everything!
Not everything needs to be one thing.
Re:Microsoft Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
Don’t forget .net everything. They even called windows server ‘.net’ at one point.
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They never called the Windows Server operating system edition .NET. You're probably thinking of the cancelled Windows .NET Server product, which was to have been a software bundle including SQL Server, Exchange Server and MSN (a successor to BackOffice server, I guess). Visual Studio got the .NET branding, and Microsoft accounts were called .NET Passport. But the majority of the other things that got .NET branding were actually using the .NET framework, or .NET wrappers for some other API/service (e.g. A
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I remember Mickey$oft had a short-lived thing, "Digital Nervous System" or some such nonsense, and trumpeted as "DNS". I thought, "Do they really think they can co-opt a standard acronym of the Internet?"
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Not everything needs to be one thing.
Funny, I seem to recall one of the biggest benefits of Macs being that Apple has a consistent and integrated ecosystem. Yeah I get it MS is a trend chaser, and it's painful jumping from one thing to the next, but being "one thing" very much is a good thing. Integration is important.
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Everything 365. Literally.
So somehow people are not happy with copilot? (Score:2)
No idea why that is. Is copilot really a lot more crappy than other LLM manifestations? Or is its crappiness just more obvious?
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I prefer "the turd that won't flush"
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Windows 11 has been 100% SNAFU since its inception. ....
It's kindof hard to fathom Microsoft's continual abuse of their customers. All i can think of, is that it's enabled by the slightly unbalanced personality, and of lack of common sense so many super geeks have (cough - Bill Gates). They've been defending their tech messiah for so long against the Linux and Mac cults , that they're just in too deep, on so many levels, to acknowledge the totally ridiculous, authoritarian, technologically-doomed and self-destructive direction MS has embarked on.
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Indeed. And the only thing to bring it all toppling down is a viable alternative. That may just be in the works with Europe and others moving off MS now, after MS was stupid enough to block institutional accounts in o365. Everybody can see now that you cannot depend on MS products and a of of people with plicy responsibility have take note.
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As of April 5th 2026, Microsoft has applied the name "Copilot" to 80 (formerly 78) separately marketed products and tools. There are now Copilots inside Copilots, Copilots for other Copilots, and a physical Copilot key on your keyboard for summoning them.
With each of those products with a separate product manager and design team that decides what the LLM has access too, what the model is, and the UI to interact with it. Just with an previous overarching message of include AI in your product and call it Copilot.
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So, different to use and of different utility everywhere? Who at MS though that was a good idea?
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No idea why that is. Is copilot really a lot more crappy than other LLM manifestations? Or is its crappiness just more obvious?
I think it's a combination of the two. In my limited interactions with Copilot, it has seemed almost Siri-level bad; but it's also true that Microsoft chose to shove it in everyone's faces in every place they possibly could.
When I've used both ChatGPT and Claude, even very recently I've still noticed a number of silly errors and oversights; but in general their responses have at least been helpful overall.
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When I've used both ChatGPT and Claude, even very recently I've still noticed a number of silly errors and oversights; but in general their responses have at least been helpful overall.
"Helpful, overall" is basically the minimal requirement for any tool. If Copilot does not even reach that, then I can only conclude MS cannot perform at all anymore, even when the opportunities are served to them on a silver platter.
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It's mostly the way they keep trying to shove it down everyone's throat, as relentlessly as any spammer who ever lived. That, by itself, is of offensive, it really doesn't matter how well or poorly it works.
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Interesting. Also indicates some level of desperation on their side. Good.
Textbook definition of a screw up (Score:4, Insightful)
You know you've screwed up when a key new feature that you've added to your product is so reviled that you're forced to hide its existence.
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I think it's more of a question of why the hell do you need the button in notepad. You already have a button for it on the task bar, on the keyboard (Win+C for those without a copilot key), if the AI assistant is so unified why does it need individual buttons in every god damn app... even if you did want to use it. And even if you did use CoPilot why the hell would you use it in notepad.
Assurance (Score:2)
Nothing is changing! (Score:2)
remapping the key is a half-solution (Score:3)
A PC World op-ed... (Score:2)
A PC World op-ed wrote "Microsoft Copilot is the new Internet Explorer" ...
https://www.pcworld.com/articl... [pcworld.com]
--JoshK.
why not just disable it? (Score:2)
Bad For Morale (Score:2)
"You can easily turn it off" (Score:2)
Okay, but that shit is still loaded into the program. Notepad used to be a native, lightweight shitty editor, that's what I liked about it. Now it uses more memory than Notepad++, which is ridiculous.
Re: "You can easily turn it off" (Score:2)
That's what really surprises me. Windows now lacks its equivalent of vi or nano. ("ed" doesn't count. Notepad in windows 11 is a completely different app, and it's pretty terrible in comparison. It became more like wordpad (another underappreciated app)
In a related news... (Score:2)
The xFinity move! (Score:2)
Same shitty service, higher prices, shiny new name.
But why? (Score:2)
The exact same thing under a different name (Score:2)
Microsoft didn't learn, they just hide their mess-ups through "rebranding" (the exact same thing with a different name).
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What did you expect? When I read a few months ago that Microsoft was backing off I figured they would do exactly this. Microsoft is full of shit and that shit storm has only gotten exponentially worse since Nadella's time at the wheel. If you like the slop then by all means belly up to the trough and get your fill with Windows.
An app that people only use when forced to is bad (Score:2)
MS goes to a lot of effort to make sure customers us copilot, onedrive etc. to the point of making it quite difficult to avoid using those products.
Maybe if they concentrated on building apps that people actually wanted to use, they would do better. I understand that in the short term MS benefits from access to people's data, but in the long term they will continue to lose customers.
The AI Infection Remains (Score:2)