When you first set up Windows 11, you’ll in all probability see a brand new icon in your Taskbar — or, no less than, it is going to be new if you happen to haven’t been utilizing Microsoft’s Teams collaboration app these days. If you float your cursor throughout the icon, which seems to be like a digital camera within a cartoon speech balloon, it should say “Chat.” Click on it, and also you’ll be invited to “Meet and chat with friends and family” utilizing Microsoft Teams.

If you’re already utilizing Teams, otherwise you’re okay with switching to it, you’re nice. After that, while you click on on the Chat icon, you’ll have the ability to chat with pals, household, and colleagues utilizing a pop-up field.

So what if you happen to’re not curious about utilizing Microsoft Teams?

There are a number of issues you are able to do if you happen to discover the push to Teams irritating. You can cease Teams from mechanically loading each time you begin your machine. You can take away the Chat icon from the Taskbar. And, if you happen to actually need to go the entire hog, you possibly can uninstall it.

Let’s take these separately.

Stop Teams from loading on startup

It’s actually easy to easily cease Teams — or every other app that you just don’t want — from loading when your machine begins up. This not solely will get your machine to begin up sooner, but it surely reserves your PC’s reminiscence for the stuff you actually need to use.

• Open the Settings app. There are a number of strategies: you possibly can click on in your Start icon and choose Settings from the pinned menu; or right-click the Start icon and choose Settings; or kind “Windows + i” on the keyboard.
• Select Apps > Startup
• Scroll all the way down to “Microsoft Teams” and toggle it off. (The app might say “Microsoft Teams (Preview)” as a substitute.)

By the best way, so long as you’re within the Startup menu, check out a number of the different apps that mechanically begin up along with your pc; there could also be some others that you just need to disable (for instance, what if you happen to don’t essentially need to run OneDrive?). Go forward and do this.

Remove Teams out of your Taskbar

Even if you happen to cease Teams from loading, you’re nonetheless going to have the Teams Chat icon sitting in your Taskbar. If you haven’t any intention of utilizing it and need to save your Taskbar for different apps, it’s easy to take away it, although it’s not fairly the identical course of as a lot of the different apps which can be pinned there.

• Right-click on the Taskbar after which click on on “Taskbar settings”
• Under Taskbar objects, toggle off “Chat”

Uninstall Teams

If you actually, actually don’t need Teams round, you possibly can uninstall it. There are literally two methods of doing this:

Using the Start menu

• Click on the Start menu icon within the Taskbar after which on the “All apps” button
• Scroll all the way down to the Microsoft Teams app or kind “Teams” within the search field. (The app might say “Microsoft Teams (Preview)” as a substitute.)
• Right-click on the app and select “Uninstall.” You’ll be informed that the app can be uninstalled, so click on “Uninstall” once more.

Using Settings

• Open the Settings app (see above for numerous methods to do that)
• Select Apps from the left-hand menu
• Select “Apps & Features”
• Find the Microsoft Teams app, both by scrolling down or typing “Teams” into the search field. (It might say “Microsoft Teams (Preview).”)
• Click on the three dots to the precise of the app’s title and choose “Uninstall.” You’ll be informed that the app can be uninstalled, so click on “Uninstall” once more.

That’s it!