Prerequisites before we can start setting up

Setting up WSL (Windows 10/11)

Windows Subsystem for Linux(WSL) is a component of Microsoft Windows that allows the use of a Linux environment from within Windows without using a VM or dual booting. There are 2 versions- WSL 1 and 2. Both are very different from each other. You can check out their Wikipedia for more details. In this setup, I’m using WSL 2 which is a default in the recent versions of Windows (post 2019). WSL 2 uses a Linux kernel– a managed virtual machine via Hyper-V that implements the full Linux kernel. As a result, WSL 2 is compatible with more Linux binaries.

• Open a new PowerShell terminal as an admin and run the below command.

  wsl –install
  For a specific default distro: wsl –install –d < name>

This will enable WSL2 and install the default distro- Ubuntu which works well for this tutorial but you may go with other distros as well. If you’re facing issues, you can checkout this link. You may have to enable certain settings.

• Set up the username and password for the distro. PS- Don’t use the default credentials like admin/admin as it’s widely available in user manuals/guides and people are aware of it thus making it more vulnerable.

Install VS Code and Docker Desktop

It’s very simple. Just download from the official sources and run the GUI installer. VSCode is the IDE we’re using and Docker Desktop basically is an app that allows users to create, run, update and use docker containers. It let’s us interact with the image repos, local images, volumes etc. For Docker Desktop, remember to check the option to start docker at startup, unless you want to explicitly start the docker service every time manually.

Also, for simplicity sake, we will be using Docker Desktop. In the future, you may want to install Docker directly on your linux distro if the need arises.

Enable plugins on VS Code

On VS Code enable the plugins:

• Remote Development- WSL This plugin lets us use VS Code to build Linux applications that run on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
• Remote Development- Dev Containers The extension lets us use a Docker container as a full-featured development environment.
• Docker The Docker Extension Pack makes it easy to build, manage, and deploy containerized applications from Visual Studio Code.

Configuring and setting up the container

Now that we’re done with the prerequsites open a new WSL window by clicking the blue button at the bottom left side corner and choose the first option- New WSL Window. PS- I have already set up the connection hence it shows as Connect to WSL but if it’s the first time you’re setting it up it should show as New WSL Window

From here onwards we’ll be working on Linux. We want to create a folder to store our project in the WSL Filesystem. In this case, I have created it in the home directory. Run this in your terminal to create the a new directory (mkdir name) and open the directory (cd name) in the terminal.

mkdir dev-container-test && cd dev-container-test

I’m manually creating the necessary files to configure the container but you can also use templates by going to the Command Palette and selecting the “Add Dev Container Configuration Files” option.

Create a new directory with the name .devcontainer with the . and under this directory create devcontainer.json , Dockerfile and requirements.txt files.

Now let’s update the files we just created!

devcontainer.json

This file tells VSCode how to build our ebvironment. Open devcontainer.json and paste this code:

{
  // This gives the dev container a name and let's the machine know to
  // build the container following the Dockerfile instructions.
  "name": "dev-container-test",
  "build": {
    "dockerfile": "Dockerfile"
  },
  "customizations": {
    // Configure properties specific to VS Code.
    "vscode": {
      // Add extensions you want installed when the container is created.
      "extensions": [
        "ms-python.python",
        "ms-python.vscode-pylance"
      ]
    }
  },
  // All ports listed here will also be available outside your development
  // container i.e. in your machine’s localhost. By default, Docker
  // encapsulates your application in a box with no contact to the outside
  // world.
  "forwardPorts": [5000]
}

Dockerfile:

I’m going to use the container as a virtual development environment. So I want to write a Dockerfile to build a container image, beginning with the version of Python that I want, and then add all of my dependencies into it. Open Docker file and paste the below code:

    #The base image for the container that I have taken from DockerHub (it is hardened and secure to some extent already) 
    FROM python:3.11-slim
    
    # Disable buffering for Python's standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) streams so that output from Python app, such as Django logs, is sent directly to the container's logs in real time.      
    ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1  
     
    # Copy python requirements to the docker container and install. Here we're going to install all our libraries and depndencies. 
    
    COPY requirements.txt .
    
    RUN python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Requirements

In this file we’ll mention all the dependencies that needs to be downloaded and their versions (optional). Keeping this very simple with only Pylint which checks for programming errors, style issues, and potential bugs

pylint

Now we should be good to build and run the docker container. Open the command palette and choose “Dev Containers: Reopen in Container”. (If you have already built a container, choose “Rebuilt and Reopen in Container” instead.)

Once the container build is over it will open a new workspace where you can start your development. At any point, you can update your config and rebuild the container.
Happy Coding!

Microsoft has released a couple of AI-based features/functionalities in Windows 11 and 10. Currently, it is available as “Preview” with limited capabilities in select regions. Some more context about Copilot for those who are not aware about it:

What is Windows Co-pilot?

Let’s understand this first with some history. Microsoft is one of the major shareholder in OpenAI- the creator of ChatGPT models. Post the fame of LLM, chatbots and Gen-AI, Microsoft decided to set up it’s own GPT instances and infuse AI in some of it’s functionalities and products like in Bing Search or in Quick Search. It let’s you give text based commands like turn on dark mode or search for flight details etc.

Why you should disable Co-pilot?

There is one big reason, you may want to not use these products, till countries/governments release some laws to protect individual rights and IP (intellectual property) and that is PRIVACY. According to Microsoft’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, it not only captures your data but also may sell it to third-parties or use it for development of their services.

Use of Your Content. As part of providing the AI services, Microsoft will process and store your inputs to the service as well as output from the service, for purposes of monitoring for and preventing abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service. ~ Terms of Service under AI services (iv)

Privacy Policy is a bit long because it covers all products under Micrsoft but TL;DR or key points can be found here

If you do have time, I would recommend going through atleast the AI section (Search, Microsoft Edge, and artificial intelligence) since Microsoft is coming up with new AI features.

Why does it matter that some data they may collect?

A lot of people believe their information is not that important enough because they may not be famous or may not have anything to hide so it’s not an issue if any company accesses their data. But it matters and some day-to day examples of why:

• your data is used by companies usually to market their product in a way that it appeals to you. Instead of ensuring quality and good products, it’s more about trying to trying to generate sales and profit. They may also sell the different types of data from your devices, networks and devices to other companies leading to exploitation. Some Facebook/Meta related examples:

  • Recently, court documents were unsealed as part of a major anti-trust lawsuit filed in U.S. claim Netflix and Facebook “enjoyed a special relationship” so that Netflix could better tailor its ads with Facebook involving millions of dollars.
  • In 2018, the New York Times published a report citing hundreds of pages of Facebook documents, alleging Facebook had authorized Spotify and Netflix to access users’ DMs. PS: Microsoft did say they may sell/share your data with third-parties.

• in some AI apps, such as self-driving cars, have the ability to track your location and driving habits to help the car understand its surroundings and act accordingly. While this technology may help make cars safer and smarter, it also opens more opportunities for your personal information to become part of a larger data set that can be tracked across different devices in your home, work, or public spaces.

• your images (even just a selfie in which you’re fully clothed) may be used to generate porn or for revenge porn without your knowledge or permission.

• data scraped from the internet using tools may memorize personal information about people, as well as relational data about their family and friends. This data helps enable spear-phishing—the deliberate targeting of people for purposes of identity theft or fraud. Already, bad actors are using AI voice cloning to impersonate people and then extort them over good old-fashioned phones.

How do I disable Co-pilot?

I would have to admit, Microsoft has not made this easy with not providing an option to opt-out of this preview or even by not being transparent regarding removal options. Also, enabling features that collect personal data in an update without letting users explicitly know about the same. But fortunately, the steps to follow are easy:

• Remove it from the Taskbar (doesn’t remove Copilot completely) Go to Setting -> Personalization -> Taskbar -> Toggle of Copilot

2. Use Registry Editor to disable it for all users (again doesn’t disable Copilot completely, it will still run as background process)

   • Go to Registry Editor
   • Using Ctrl + F find the TurnOffWindowsCopilot section.
   • We need to update the REG_DWORD from 0 to 1 to run this function. To do that you can either manually change the values or create a text file and add this code from Shawn Brink:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:0000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"HubsSidebarEnabled"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:0000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer]
"DisableSearchBoxSuggestions"=dword:0000001

What does this code do ? Well essentially we’re updating the configuration information that the OS has. The HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU) registry hive stores configuration information specific to the current/logged-in user. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) registry hive holds most of the configuration data for Windows OS itself and it’s software.

3. Finally, we can use gedit or Group Policy Editor to remove the Co-Pilot Bundle. This completely removes Co-Pilot from your system.
   • Search gedit or run gedit.msc file to open Group Policy Editor.
   • Follow the path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
   • In the Windows Copilot folder, double click Turn Off Windows Copilot. In the pop-up, choose the Enabled button and apply the changes.

References:

1. https://www.elevenforum.com/t/completely-disable-and-remove-copilot-in-windows-11.23264/
2. https://www.laptopmag.com/software/how-to-turn-off-copilot-in-windows-11-keep-it-ai-free
3. https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/software/how-disable-copilot-in-windows-11