Co-pilot ejected

A cold dry cloudy day with next week's Morning Prayer and Reflection to prepare and record while I had the house to myself, while Clare was at her Tuesday study group. 

Microsoft has updated Windows 11 on my laptop with its Co-pilot AI tool added to the taskbar. It's meant to be 'helpful' with creative ideas and suggestions on whatever you're working on - like the 'clippy' in an ancient version of MS Office, which appended hints and tips, getting in the way with its animated antics when you were trying to think straight. It was a nuisance and getting it to go away and stay away was an unwanted hassle. 

I just want a device I can use without distraction. Nothing more. I couldn't remove Co-pilot from the taskbar by deleting the icon or right clinking to find the uninstall option, but googling the problem directed me to the Settings menu, and the Personalisation sub-menu to hide it. You cannot uninstall it, but could stop it running by tinkering with the Registry. I also discovered today that if you use Microsoft's Outlook email client, it will email you commercial ads, which you can only get rid of by paying a monthly subscription. Unfortunately there are a few apps which I rely on which are irreplaceable. I wish I could use Linux for everything. Chromebook runs on Linux, but its user interface isn't as good as it needs to be to supplant Windows. Such a pity. 

I cooked lunch in time for Clare's return. After we'd eaten I went for a long walk in the park. As I went along the east side of the Taff, I was outpaced by an empty canoe, carried downriver and over the weir at Blackweir Bridge without turning turtle. Where did it come from? It was open and without evidence of waterproof cover suggest it had unseated its occupant, so possibly it was blown off its waterside storage rack somewhere upstream. 

The Reflection I started before lunch needed completing and recording. I did this, made the video slide show for a week Thursday and uploaded it to YouTube when I got back. New material for Sway arrived by email, plus notification that the announcement about the new Ministry Area leader will go out this Sunday. Glad I'll be presiding and preaching at St Catherine's to welcome the announcement at the start of the Eucharist.

I had more work to do after supper, but stopped at nine to enjoy watching Michael Portillo's programme on his visit to beautiful Cordoba, a place that made a great impression on me through both my visits there. There was a wonderful palace I missed, however. Will I get an opportunity to return there I wonder. I had a message from Rachel to tell me the sound quality on the video I posted earlier was poor. I then realised I'd forgotten to amplify the sound track, and had to revisit the component parts edit and re-post. Serves me right, though this has been a busy day work wise.

A relief to hear that hostage negotiation between Israel and Hamas is almost finalised and announcement of a pause in the fighting to permit exchange of hostages is imminent. About time too, after nearly seven weeks.