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Newsletter 03/23/2025 If you find this article of value, please help keep the blog going by making a contribution at GoFundMe or Paypal Back to Contents


Microsoft Enables Copilot To Access and Analyze Your Files
A Tutorial If You Wish To Fly with a Copilot, or How To Fly Solo, Pt. 2

 

On March 20, 2025, PCWorld, and other tech publications that same week, announced in an unnerving way that Microsoft CoPilot will soon be "sniffing your OneDrive files."  As PC World summarized the case against CoPilot and OneDrive, "Many Windows users look down on OneDrive and Copilot alike, so the combination of the two might seem like the worst of all worlds."  I find CoPilot quite useful, but only on my terms and not Microsoft's;  but OneDrive — not so much.  Since its arrival on our digital landscape, gigabytes have written both extolling the virtues of, or raging against the problems caused by, OneDrive. 

Microsoft calls this new application where the two technologies are merged, "Copilot in OneDrive."  As Microsoft explains the feature:

Copilot in OneDrive offers a powerful feature that allows users to find information and answer questions across their files. This time-saving tool can search through up to 5 selected files, supporting various document types except for videos and images.

Calling the new application an "intelligent tool," using Copilot on your files saved to OneDrive, users will easily be able to:

✓ Extract information from multiple files in your OneDrive without even opening them
✓ Compare the key differences between documents in just a single-click
✓ Quickly summarize files in your OneDrive so that staying updated on important files doesn't take you hours
✓ Generate insights from your documents and jumpstart your work with the help of Copilot

Microsoft claims that users will now be able to: "Ask about your files; Compare your files; and Summarize your files."  To activate the new feature there is now a "Copilot button on the OneDrive Web interface."  Personally, I keep OneDrive disabled.  On the OneDrive web interface at the Microsoft 365 Copilot website.  I did not, however, find a Copilot button.  I cannot, therefore. provide a visual demonstration of this new feature.  As noted in the PCWorld article cited above, Microsoft is "going to be turning on Copilot for OneDrive automatically for users over the next several months, through June." 

What is disturbing, however, is that in a Microsoft FAQ about Copilot in OneDrive is this sentence. 

Copilot in OneDrive is bundled as a part of Microsoft 365 Copilot and is always on for licensed users. 

In a recent Dispatch, dated January 19, 2025,  I discussed the integration of Copilot into Office, and how to enable or disable the new feature.  If you do not want Copilot inserting itself into your Word documents, then I suggest that you review that earlier post of mine.  Another way to keep control of your own computer and your files is to prevent either OneDrive or Copilot from starting up in the first place.  The default is now that both OneDrive and Copilot are enabled when your computer starts up.  To do this, you need to become familiar with Task Manager.  The table below will show you how this is done.

In Windows 11,
you can easily access task manger by right-clicking a blank space on the Taskbar. 
There are two options that will appear.  Click Task Manager.
Task Manager has many functions and settings.
All of the various settings are accessed from the menu on the left. 
What we want to focus on here is the button that is the fifth button down labeled, "Startup apps."
That will allow you to enable or disable any of the applications that are listed
from starting up when your PC itself starts.
To enable or disable an application, select the application, and
then click the Enable or Disable button from the row at the top.
I have disabled Copilot and Copilot 365 from starting up with no impact on performance.
In fact, most the applications enabled to startup by default at the time the computer starts
do not need to do so.  If your computer runs slow, check out what's starting up.
If you know what any of these applications does or doesn't do,
disabling these applications from starting up automatically might speed things up.
Feel free to experiment with these settings.
You can always start those apps from the Start Menu.

OneDrive can be disabled from within OneDrive itself.  Since I have already done that, I do not want to start OneDrive.  OneDrive will immediately take control of my files, and then put my files in the OneDrive folder and on the cloud.  Thus, screwing up my foolproof backup procedure.  Instead, I will use the response from Copilot on how to prevent OneDrive from starting up.  Once OneDrive is disabled, you can still access your files on the OneDrive cloud from the Onedrive option on the Office 365 website. 

To prevent OneDrive from starting up automatically, you can adjust its settings. Here's how:

Access OneDrive Settings:
1. Right-click the OneDrive icon in your system tray (near the clock).
Select "Settings."
2. Disable Automatic Startup:
In the "Settings" tab, uncheck the option that says "Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows."

For a complete discussion of how OneDrive takes over your files, and how you can take back control of your files, see my series, The OneDrive Conundrum: The Series.

“Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.
— Sophia Loren

¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯ 
Gerald Reiff
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