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This happened back in November of last year, but I've decided to reformat this article that was originally posted elsewhere, to close out my "everything sucks now" series, that I unexpectedly created this month, it seems we can't outrun the entropy.

Part 1, MS word gets an unwanted feature...

There is a growing, considerable amount of animosity that is being generated towards big tech companies with their assimilation of unwanted AI tools and removal of user agency.

When it comes to the simple necessity of being able to disable them, it seems they are reluctant to listen to user outcry and feedback.

For me, last week it was AI search results in google, today copilot integration in Microsoft Word.

It seems silly that, to save on resources you'd expect they would at least give you the option to disable these features, so the question goes, what do they expect to gain from their customers using them? - It's just more bloat in an already fine product.

The simplest solution to this issue is to switch products, and I sadly may have to consider this for Microsoft Word, fixing Google search result was relatively easy, I just used an ad-blocker to disable the element, Word is a bit more complicated because it's a full-fledged desktop application.

Word was actually an excellent cognitive writing tool or text IDE, problem is desktop publishing and word processing applications/productivity tools reached peak innovation around the 2000s (think office 2007) and haven't really changed that much since then, So what is a product owner to do? other than to shove the latest tech trends into it, charge more for it, and call it a day.

I did have a success with copilot earlier on when it was available on my Windows 11 workstation, it recommended edge detector (or whatever the updated version was), when I asked how to change the default browser for the search results in the start menu, so now they open in Firefox.

Frustratingly it seems my organisation has the option to turn off copilot, the Office 365 family account does not, I've even gone so far as to reach out to support and it's quite obvious they want to tell me what they are not allowed to tell me, and the whole experience is rather disappointing from a transparency perspective. - I get it, you need user data to feed the AI, and everyone is coming along for the ride whether they like it or not.

I'm starting on an academic research arc\consultancy role, and I want to maintain my integrity by keeping ungoverned, unregulated AI tools out of the ecosystem. - Perhaps it's finally time to write a letter to parliament... 🤔

AI = Animosity, Intensified.

Part 2, reaching out to support.

(originally posted here)

I want to turn off or hide the draft with copilot dingbat that follows my cursor around in MS Word.

I have seen a few articles on this website, and I know it's not possible but I'm going to ask anyway.

For reference this is what I'm referring to:

It's more I find the little thing following me around on my screen to be annoying and distracting, I've managed to hide or disable anything related to copilot on my system except this little dingbat.

When a new document is open you get a little message that says "Select the icon or press Alt + i to draft with copilot"

It would be nice if I could hide that as well, yes copilot is a *feature*, and I don't care about it.

I also want to hide the paste with copilot and just used the local paste options that were built into previous versions of word.

I suspect that there is a copilot dingbat that is stored somewhere on my system, possibly in a font, and as I have already made a few detrimental modifications to my operating system registry, I'm not wary of messing up my computer any more than it could be.

The only saving grace I have at the moment is there is an issue with my account, so any accidental triggering of the feature causes it to crap out. (So long as I don't accidentally press the 'fix account" button)

I know that if it was easy to turn off there would be a button for it, I know Microsoft probably wants us to use this feature because it means more data for them to collect, and I'm disappointed in the loss of user agency that's resulted from this rollout, and there's a spike in animosity towards AI in general.

Part 3, hack it.

I managed to disable a little bit of copilot functionality, I went back to the system internals website and downloaded and app called process monitor, and discovered that word was talking to a file called WordCopilot.js found under FA000000139, (Full path C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\sdxs\FA000000139) removing this file doesn't break word and it disables *some* of copilot functionality, I think if I spend a bit more time with it and get a bit more surgical with it we might be able to remove the feature entirely. 😁

Update 1:

(originally posted here)

I managed to disable the annoying copilot dingbat in Word! 😲 But I had to resort to extreme measures, for whatever reason it's disabled on my work computer, or my work computer never got the update, although when I tested further it seems they are the same version, so I took a copy of the version I have at work, copied it from the program files, and then deleted the version that was in my program files and then pasted the version from work and it worked! I can't believe it! it worked, free at last of this wretched dingbat.

My next step will be running a diff on both versions, (something has to be different), if I can isolate the file or DLL, we could potentially build a patch and get rid of this gross visual virus that's been tormenting my word cursor for the last couple of weeks.

I'm just so relieved right now. 😁😁

I also disabled updates on word, and I can confirm that it is logged in with my personal account.

Edit: there is definitely something in the applications configuration, that's different, I tested it in PowerPoint and I got the dingbat for all of a few seconds before it disappeared.

Part 4, a solution

(originally posted here)

I did manage to get rid of the dingbat out of Word!

After exhausting all of the recommended downgrade options, I had a fairly successful attempt at hacking the application to remove it out of the JavaScript files, but also ran into stability issues, and found that after a little bit it would come back, Finally, I discovered that my work was running a slightly older version of Microsoft Word, version 2410, (listed as a monthly enterprise channel) so I copied and pasted that onto a USB thumb drive and overwrote the copy that I had on my home computer, this got rid of the dingbat and made me extremely happy.

(Yes, the non-consensually obtained work copy uses my home account\licence!)

Once I implemented this fix, I also made sure to disable all Microsoft Word updates, During my hacking spree I did manage to isolate the library file where the copilot extension lives, but the process to remove it's just too difficult to create a user guide for.

Finally, to permanently disable Copilot across Microsoft 365 subscriptions, I've already made a response in another thread that I will link here as well as import into this thread here:

If it hasn't been mentioned in the thread already, and I am not sure what Microsoft's reasoning is behind all of this, but if you go to the manage subscription option on your account, and then go to cancel your subscription, on the landing page there will be an option for Microsoft Office 365 Family Classic, with a button that allows you to switch to that tier, not only does this get rid of the AI but it keeps the price the same for next year.

It's just really inane that it's only available on that page.

I was shown this from a Reddit thread that I will link to in reply because I'm not sure if it'll get flagged doing it in this response.

So, in June when my subscription lapse over to the classic tier I'll finally be able to update Microsoft Word again, and it may be one of the last times that I'll be able to update Microsoft Word because this whole experience has put me off Windows 11. (I am staying on Windows 10 until the support runs out and moving away afterwards)

Part 5, aftermath

So, I have been running an out-dated "pirated" version of Microsoft Office for the past 8 months, they did eventually add a box to the options dialogue that allows you to disable it, but why couldn't they have just put the check box in from the start?

Someone posted, here a picture of their dialogue box which doesn't match mine and I've gone through a few different versions of word trying to find this exact setting and it's not a uniform solution.

All you had to do was to stick a god dam check box in the program settings to allow people to disable the stupid dingbat.

What the fuck Microsoft?