Windows 10 May 2020 Update finally makes it easy to ditch Cortana
Windows 10 May 2020 Update comes with some big changes for Cortana, and one of those is giving users the ability to easily switch off the digital assistant – or indeed ditch the feature entirely (finally).
With the May 2020 Update, Cortana got a divorce from the taskbar, becoming a separate app and being repositioned as a ‘personal productivity assistant’ no less, along with getting more natural conversational skills, so it feels like you are chatting (sort of) with Windows 10’s assistant.
However, if the only thing you went to tell Cortana is to leave you alone, that’s easily done.
As Windows Latest highlights, the new standalone Cortana app is still added to the programs which are automatically run by Windows 10 upon boot. So if you’d rather not have Cortana start automatically, which after all does slow down your boot time a bit, completely unnecessarily if you’re not planning on using the assistant, you can switch the feature off using the Task Manager.
To do so, open the Task Manager (press the CTRL+Shift+Escape keys together), then click on the tab labeled ‘Start-up’. In here, on the left-hand side, all the applications loaded on startup are listed by name, so obviously you’re looking for the one called Cortana. When you spot it, simply click to highlight it, and then click the ‘Disable’ button bottom-right.
That’s all you need to do to stop Cortana from loading automatically when you turn your PC on, and the assistant will now only run if you specifically start it.
Removal job
What about if you never intend to start it – is it possible to remove the Cortana app completely? Well, yes it is, although you can’t do this via the obvious route, which would be to use ‘Add or Remove Programs’ under system settings.
Rather, to completely remove Cortana, you’ll need to fire up the Windows PowerShell app.
To do this, simply type ‘PowerShell’ into the Windows search box (next to the Start button), and in the results that pop up in the right-hand side panel, click on ‘Run As Administrator’ (and answer ‘Yes’ to the pop-up question).
In the window that then appears, type (or copy and paste) the following and press enter:
Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage
That performs a removal, but do note that it doesn’t get rid of all traces of Cortana – to fully rid your Windows 10 system of the assistant, you’ll need to head into the Registry and remove some further bits there. This isn’t strictly necessary, however, and in all honesty probably isn’t worth doing for less confident users anyway, as making changes in the Registry is a somewhat perilous endeavor that can potentially go wrong.
Windows 10 May 2020 Update comes with some big changes for Cortana, and one of those is giving users the ability to easily switch off the digital assistant – or indeed ditch the feature entirely (finally). With the May 2020 Update, Cortana got a divorce from the taskbar, becoming a…
Recent Posts
- 33 Best Deals From the Amazon Big Spring Sale (2024)
- Fitbit watches in the EU will lose third-party apps and watch faces – here’s why
- United States v. Apple is pure nerd rage
- Joni Mitchell is back on Spotify just like Neil Young — because Joe Rogan isn’t going anywhere
- Apple reportedly gives up on its MicroLED dream for now
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011