In context: Windows 11 users started reporting that Microsoft was automatically installing a Copilot app on their PCs without notifying them late last month. The discovery created a lot of confusion, with many users wondering whether the company is collecting data on them with the surreptitious installation of the new app. However, Redmond has now released an official statement, calling the update a bug and claiming that it was the result of an improper installation of another feature.
In an official support document on its website, Microsoft clarified that the updates to the Edge browser (version 123.0.2420.65), released on March 28, 2024, "incorrectly install(ed) a new package (MSIX) called 'Microsoft chat provider for Copilot in Windows' on Windows devices. Resulting from this, the Microsoft Copilot app might appear in the Installed apps in Settings menu."
The post also explained that the automatically-installed Copilot app does not run in the background, nor does it execute any code or process. It does not collect or transmit any type of data either, the company stated in the document. Microsoft further claimed that the incorrectly-installed package was meant to prepare select Windows 11 PCs for future Windows Copilot enablement, and was not intended for all devices. The company also promised to remove the defunct app from affected PCs with a future update.
The surprise discovery of the Copilot app led to protests from users, many of whom poured onto social media and online message boards to express concerns about whether it was part of Microsoft's plans to collect even more data about its customers.
However, an investigation found that the new application had 0 bytes of data and no functionality, suggesting that it was likely a placeholder shell for the most part. Thankfully, users could also uninstall the app by simply using the built-in 'Uninstall' option in Windows, but that didn't stop people from venting their frustration at Microsoft for installing software on their devices without their permission.
Even after all these decades, Windows updates remain a nightmare for many users, as they often break more than they fix. Earlier this year, Microsoft released another Edge update that was resulting in Out of Memory (OOM) errors even on systems with enough memory. The company eventually pulled the update and claimed that it was a soon-to-be-deprecated Defender feature that was causing the error.
Microsoft blames a bug for accidentally installing Copilot on Windows 11 devices
