Cortana is toast!

[earthshine]

This discussion thread was locked by steve2470 (a host of the Computer Help and Support group).

... predicts Paul Thurrott, technology journalist and professional MS fanboy.

Windows Weekly is the definitive podcast if you are a Microsoft fanboy.

I have learned a lot from them over the years. But since Win 10, I hardly ever tune in. I did so this time because I wanted info about how Windows will be affected by the recently discovered flaws in Intel processors.

The discussion of Cortana begins at 31:15 in this podcast and goes on for about 40 minutes. They discuss Intel's problems after Cortana.

Here’s the gist of it …

This is the year of the digital assistant, as evidenced by the presence of Google Home and Amazon Alexa related devices at CES.

Cortana is toast because it is only on Windows PCs. For the most part, people don’t talk to their PCs.

People want Alexa and Google home. One way MS can save Cortana is to have it interface with these other services.

MS is late to the table, once again. (Windows phone, anyone?)

My take …

I have no sympathy for MS. Win 10 is an MS-centered platform (e.g., for advertising and spying), and not a user-centered design. The forced "free" upgrades caused a lot of misery. (It reminds of 10 years ago when they put 64-bit Vista onto early machines that just couldn’t handle it, like AMD Semprons.)

Cortana is disabled on my Win 10 systems. Any system I use for production runs Win 8.1.

I often use Dragon Naturally Speaking to dictate letters and long documents. I do not use it to control the PC or to make corrections to documents. (Much easier to use keyboard and mouse for control and editing. Your mileage will vary.)

I don’t use any digital assistant devices because there’s so much noise around here (always playing a podcast or music) that my voice would not reach the microphone for random queries. Also, I can click on my Weather Channel icon and read the info faster than talking and listening to a device.

[WhiteTara]

1. Please help me disable Cortana

I tried and the only thing I ended up doing is turning on the voice!!!! Now I can't listen to music on my laptop because of the constant chatter from the AI.

Windows 10 is horrible and has almost rendered my laptop useless. Ugh.

[earthshine]

2. Google is your friend, especially for disabling MS functions ...

Warning - Disabling Cortana can cause the search functions on your computer to malfunction.

Try this ... Google the phrase "make cortana shut up".

If you still want to disable Cortana (presumably so you can be more like me ) Google the term "disable Cortana".

Let's have a toast ...

Fuck Win 10!

[Earth Bound Misfit]

3. To disable cortana but keep search

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindows Search]
"AllowCortana"=dword:00000000

If running Win 10 Pro or above you can use group policy to disable Cortana.

Click Search, type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
Locate Allow Cortana and double-click on it to open the relevant policy.
Select Disabled.
Click Apply and OK to turn off Cortana.

[bkdroid13]

4. Completely Disable Cortana on Windows 10

1. Open Run and type gpedit.msc and open Registry Editor
2. Search this key [Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Search]
3. Allow Cortana and double-click on it to open it
4. Select Disabled.
5. Modify Value to 0.

Follow this guide: https://www.hows.tech/2019/04/disable-cortana-in-windows-10.html

But I feel it still can spy on you, the option is group policy editor.