I'm not the biggest fan of other forced programs on WIn 11 myself , such as Copilot & Recall . Matter of fact , I'm toying with the idea of returning to WIn 10 , & paying for that one year of security updates .

Copilot is in Windows 10 also, not that I've ever looked to see what it is or does. I mean, I know it used to be my Microsoft Office program but...

It sure is, oldbroad. It is actually the Microsoft AI and I don't use it either. Unless you have a subscription to a new Office 365 program, it is not part of your Office. I have an old version - 2019 - and CoPilot has no part in it.

I also have Office 2019 and yes, it shows Microsoft 365 Copilot! I do not have a subscription to it!

OK. I looked in Word and Excel and I don't see it. Where do you see it in your Office 2019? This is what I found in a search...

Remember this post 4/15 in this same thread? Well, sometimes, there is a box in the upper right corner of my spreadsheets that says something like "ask CoPilot". I have never clicked it and it is not always there. I think these things show up after I lose my internet or network connection.

The 356 Copilot shows up as an installed program on my computer the same as OneDrive does. I guess my point really is, that it seems sometimes that some of these posts are saying Windows 10 doesn't have these same programs that Windows 11 does, but it does, so what would be the point of going back to Windows 10? (Referring to what Creeping_Doom posted: "I'm not the biggest fan of other forced programs on WIn 11 myself , such as Copilot & Recall . Matter of fact , I'm toying with the idea of returning to WIn 10 , & paying for that one year of security updates ."

Now, Recall? I haven't seen anything called Recall (yet).

Oh, now I see. However, you used that word "remember!" I can't remember stuff from 10 minutes ago! Yes, CoPilot is on your computer. They released it in an update in maybe 2023, but I can't remember for sure. But it's not this invasive thing that tries to take over your computer like OneDrive in Windows 11. But you don't HAVE to use CoPilot. It's just there if you choose to ask it something - it's not part of Office 2019.

OneDrive is also something you can choose to use or not on Windows 10. I actually DO use it if I want to share large files such as videos. It's on Windows 11 that Microsoft turned it into the horrid thing that takes over your entire computer unless you disable it. Same with CoPilot in Windows 10 and 11 - it's there if you want to use it, but you don't have to. You can ignore it completely if you want to. Windows Recall in 11 records what you do so you can search for things you have done later. It's also something you can choose to turn off and not use.

Just because these things exist on Windows doesn't mean you have to use them. For instance, you have the Edge browser on your computer, but you can choose to use Firefox or Chrome or Duck Duck Go or whatever if you don't want to use Edge.

Okay, in my Office 2019 Outlook email right now (this is not always there though) is a "Copilot" box up in the right corner. If I hover over it, it says "See Copilot actions you can use with your selected content".

Odd... just checked my Outlook 2019 email and I don't have it! Who knows. But as I said, it's there if you want to use it, but you don't have to. I did notice when I click on my white search box in the taskbar, there is something that says CoPilot is recommended for searches and I should try it. I have ignored it. Wonder if I clicked on it if I would get it in my Office 2019 apps. But I think I'll just leave it as-is!

I never clicked on it so that's not how it got in my Office 2019. I'm afraid to click on it lest it thinks I want their subscription, which I don't, but if I cannot use Office 2019 anymore going forward, I would probably need it. Anyway, it is pushing itself on Win 10.

Oh, it's not pushing itself on Windows 10! It's already here. I just don't use it.

I have used it a couple of times for searches when I was unable to find something and it was kind of useful. But that's not very often.

So the latest disaster is that somehow NONE of my important business and financial files are on either one Drive, or my hard drive. Fortunately they are on my backup drive, but this is pretty serious. Also, the files on One Drive are completely scrambled, with game save folders mixed in with pictures. Also, I can't find half of my pictures anywhere.

I have no idea what to do now.

How did the stupid thing get activated again?

Scrambled or not, if you don't want to keep the files on One Drive, download them to your backup drive and uninstall the dratted thing again. Just remember, you do this by going directly to OneDrive at live.com, not through the files on your computer. If you haven't before, use Revo Uninstaller to uninstall it.

It got activated again when I had issues with my Alienware. In the end, a Dell technician remotely backed everything up and reinstalled Windows. Of course the dreaded One Drive automatically got activated and immediately started its thieving ways again.

The thing is, my files aren't there any more. They're not on my hard drive OR the One Drive cloud. Fortunately they are on my backup drive, except for my pictures, which I will grab. Even so, some of those seem to be missing.

When the Dell technician spent a day with me reinstalling Windows a month ago, he also made sure that all of my files were in three places; my PC hard drive, the One Drive Cloud, and my backup drive. When i protested about One Drive because I hate it so much, he showed me that all of the files were there. They were there. I saw them. In the month or so since then, a whole lot of stuff is just...gone.

I'll grab what I can off One Drive and sever it from my computer, but I think I might also just get a separate computer for documents and pictures and uninstall One Drive altogether before I start using it. I don't care too much if I lose some game stuff, but my documents and pictures are off-limits.

I feel your pain Hagatha.



The idea with a secondary computer sounds great. And the backup drive.

You're obviously prepared. Stay vigilant and keep up the good work.

I figured that when that technician was reinstalling the OS, One Drive would have automatically been there. This time use Revo Uninstaller to get rid of it. And never put any photos or documents on that computer. OneDrive has become like a plague. It used to actually be useful.

Yes, I'm going to get rid of it once and for all.

Hagatha, this is another article on the plague of OneDrive from my favorite tech writer, Ed Bott.

How to Undo OneDrive Backup and Reestore Your Personal files to Your Windows 11 PC