How to Disable Cortana on Windows 10

Microsoft has integrated its digital personal assistant, Cortana, into Windows 10 with every major update. In addition to searching your computer, it can display notifications, send emails, set reminders, and do it all using your voice. But some people may find it too intrusive and prefer to turn off the assistant.

While you could turn off Cortana with a single toggle in the days before the Anniversary Update, that’s no longer possible. It was reported that in the recent Windows 10 Creators Update, disabling Cortana could completely break search, and the only way to fix the issue was a clean install.

If you’re still hell-bent on using Cortana’s features in Windows 10, there are some ways to do it. You can take away the tools it uses to learn about you, or you can turn it off entirely.

Prevent Cortana from knowing you
First, let’s go into Cortana’s settings to cut out all the separate ways it monitors your computer habits. Here’s how:

1. Click the Cortana icon next to the search box or Start key.
2. Use the gear icon to open Cortana’s settings panel.
3. In the settings screen, turn off each switch exist arrive leave.
4. Next, scroll to the very top of the settings panel and click Change what Cortana knows about me in the cloud.
5. Microsoft will get a new app from the Internet called personal information in the same start panel.
6. Once it loads, scroll to the very bottom and click Clear.

To better serve you, Cortana also collects data about what you type and speak. If you want to turn it off, follow these steps:

1. Press the start key.
2. Click the settings gear icon.
3. choose privacy.
4. In the left panel, find Speech, inking and typing.
5. Click don’t know me anymore.

Keep in mind that turning this feature off will also disable dictation in Windows 10. If this is a service you rely on, you’ll have to live with Windows “getting to know you.”

Turn off Cortana completely
After completing the above steps, Cortana will no longer respond to your voice. But it’s still running in the background, waiting to be called.

To get rid of it for good, you need to do a lot more. Depending on which version of Windows 10 you have (Home, Pro, or Enterprise), the steps will be slightly different.

How to disable Cortana on Windows 10 Pro

1. Press the start key and search Edit group policyand then open it.
2. Navigate to Computer configuration > Administrative templates > Windows components > search.
3. looking for Allow Cortanathen double-click to open it.
4. Click disabled peoplethen click OK.

How to disable Cortana on Windows 10 Home Edition
The process is slightly more complicated and requires editing the Windows registry. If you’re not happy with this process, we recommend taking a backup or setting up a restore point.

1. Press the start key and search Registry Editorand then open it.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > software > policy > Microsoft > Windows.
3. right click Windows directory and select new > key. enter Windows Searchand then press Enter.
4. choose Windows Search. In the right pane, right-click an empty space and select new > DWORD (32-bit) value. enter Allow Cortanaand then press Enter.
5. double click Allow Cortanathen enter 0 under Value data.

Restart your computer and Cortana should now be gone. The new search box will just say “Search Window” instead of “Ask me anything.”

Are you having any problems performing any of the above steps? Let us know in the comments below.

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