How to PERMANENTLY disable Cortana? Please help me with this never ending problem.

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I'm using a Toshiba 64-bit laptop running Windows 10 Home, it has 12 gb memory, 2T hard drive.

I hate very few things in this life, not even my ex-husbands. But to say that I HATE Cortana is the understatement of the year.

Any time that my computer slows to a crawl, or my downloads take twice as long as normal, I check Task Manager and yes, she is back.

Almost every time that Windows does an update, that witch is back and I have to go through this Chinese fire drill again. I've checked all my settings and nothing concerning Cortana is turned on, so why is it malfunctioning? Actually, I don't care about why at this point, I just want her gone.

Doesn't anyone out there actually know how to disable it for good? Some time ago, I found some code on the internet that I could update to the Register file that worked. I used it numerous times for over a year but with this last update it no longer works. And so I am here hoping someone can help.

Please tell me how to kill this witch permanently.

Thank you for your help.
 
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I would suggest hiding Cortana, which is what I do. But after reading through your comment. I see you have issues that I do not. As you have discovered disabling can turn into a repetitious task. Trying to turn either Cortana or Windows Update off seems to be a futile endeavor.

Cortana is part of the Windows 10 experience in the locales where she is available. This means Cortana can't be entirely turned off.

You can limit resources that Cortana uses. This may prevent Cortana from running as much.

To stop Cortana from using your location:

  1. On a Windows 10 device, open Cortana’s home from the search box on the taskbar.
  2. Go to Cortana’s Settings, and select Permissions & History.
  3. Select Manage the information Cortana can access from this device.
  4. Turn off Location.

  5. Note

    Some location data may still be collected by other apps and services. For example, location accompanied with your searches will continue to be collected and used as described in the Privacy Statement.
To stop Cortana from seeing data in your calendar, email, contacts, and text messages:

  1. On a Windows 10 device, open Cortana’s home from the search box on the taskbar.
  2. Go to Cortana’s Settings, then select Permissions & History.
  3. Select Manage the information Cortana can access from this device.
  4. Turn off Contacts, email, calendar & communication history.
  5. Go back.
  6. Select Manage the information Cortana can access from other services.
  7. Select the name of any Connected Service you use for calendar, email, and contacts (such as Outlook.com or Office 365), and then select Disconnect.

  8. Note

    Turning off Contacts, email, calendar & communication history has no effect on the Connected services you’ve set up (or that were set up for you, like Outlook.com)—for example, any that allow Cortana to access the same or similar communication data.
To stop Cortana from using browsing history:

  1. On a Windows 10 device, open Cortana’s home from the Search box on the taskbar.
  2. Go to Cortana’s Settings, then select Permissions & History.
  3. Select Manage the information Cortana can access from this device.
  4. Turn off Browsing history.

  5. Note

    Turning off Cortana’s use of browsing history has no effect on the use of browsing history for diagnostics or tailored experiences with diagnostic data. For more information, see the Diagnostics section of the Privacy Statement.
To stop Cortana from accessing your voice data you can choose to interact with Cortana with the keyboard. Or you can turn speech recognition off:

  1. If you don’t want Cortana to use your voice data, you can still interact with her using your keyboard. To turn off speech recognition, see Speech, inking, typing, and privacy. If you’re signed in to Cortana with a Microsoft account, you can view and delete your voice recordings at account.microsoft.com/privacy.
To turn off Cortana’s personalization, to stop data collection, and to clear all of the data Cortana has associated with a particular device:

  1. Go to Cortana > Notebook > About me .
  2. Select your Microsoft account.
  3. Select Sign out.
Signing out of Cortana on your device stops Cortana’s data collection and use on that device and clears the interests and data on that device, but signing out won’t clear the data that’s already saved in the Notebook or at account.microsoft.com/privacy. Your data associated with other devices will remain intact until you sign out from Cortana on those devices as well. On Windows, even after you’ve signed out of Cortana, characters you type into the taskbar search box are automatically sent to Bing and offer search recommendations. Your typed characters and searches will continue to be collected and used as described in the Privacy Statement. If you would prefer not to send any character data to Microsoft, you should choose not to use Cortana. If you would like, you can even hide Cortana. If you want to search for files, such as documents or photos, on your Windows device, you can always use the search feature in File Explorer.

To hide Cortana:

  1. Press and hold (or right-click) anywhere on the taskbar.
  2. Select Cortana.
  3. Select Hidden.
 
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Most of the time Cortana is running in the background, it's sending telemetry back to Microsoft. That's the reason that you can't totally disable it.
 
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At the taskbar, where Cortana search bar is located
  1. Open Cortana.
  2. you are provided with the set of a button on the right side.
  3. You need to click over that and simply go on the settings.
  4. At the bottom, you would see "Hey Cortana"
  5. Just click on the disable function.
From this, you will stop seeing Cortana by Microsoft.
 
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I don't see any Cortana in Task Managers task list. I have turned of as much as I can. I don't have a microphone on my main machine.
I only use the search box rarely for internal things. So I am never bothered by Cortana.
Like those old days of IE6 I wouldn't attempt to turn off any more of it...to deeply embedded
 
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I would suggest a good therapist and strong medication. Cortana is clearly taking up real estate in your head for you to express so much drama and emotion at an online community. Maybe you should just switch to Linux or Mac OS. Oops, I forgot that Mac OS now has the Siri digital assistant. She just might push you right over the edge. I guess that just leaves Linux:rolleyes:
 
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Morlaine, bondr006 !

I LOVE your posts.
People in the technical arts and sciences rarely get to laugh.
 
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I'm using a Toshiba 64-bit laptop running Windows 10 Home, it has 12 gb memory, 2T hard drive.

I hate very few things in this life, not even my ex-husbands. But to say that I HATE Cortana is the understatement of the year.

Any time that my computer slows to a crawl, or my downloads take twice as long as normal, I check Task Manager and yes, she is back.

Almost every time that Windows does an update, that witch is back and I have to go through this Chinese fire drill again. I've checked all my settings and nothing concerning Cortana is turned on, so why is it malfunctioning? Actually, I don't care about why at this point, I just want her gone.

Doesn't anyone out there actually know how to disable it for good? Some time ago, I found some code on the internet that I could update to the Register file that worked. I used it numerous times for over a year but with this last update it no longer works. And so I am here hoping someone can help.

Please tell me how to kill this witch permanently.

Thank you for your help.
i like how you describe the cortana disdain . i cant stand it but with less passion. i have been through the mill when i ve tried to remove essential components of 'microsoft experience' as they see it. i did go to linux but not enough support so back to win10. i try to ignore cortana. shut it off to minimize its impact. i get very little i can trace to it when i am working. i use system explorer and built in task manager 32 and 64 to monitor those things i can and almost never see cortana draining much of any resources. even background is negligible. I use windows 10 x64 professional have an 8core amd processor from 2016 and 16GB ddr3 ram and less hard drive space though ssd. i dont get the interference in my older home made computer. i have messed up other things by trying to modify my windows experience to the way i see it and needed to do sys reinstalls . i do routine sfc /scannow and another check/cleaner for disc image i learned from the forum and am ok now. good luck
 
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It is easy and sure with WinX Pro! (also delay all non-essential updates)

How to turn off Cortana in Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise using Local Group Policy Editor?

Open Run via Windows Search > Type gpedit.msc > Click OK.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
On the right-panel, head over to “Allow Cortana,” settings double-click on it.


also for WinX Home (& Pro) https://fossbytes.com/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10-working-method/

Note: Pro also allows up to 1 year delay for all non-security updates plus choice of ehat to update
 
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this is good info. i love how to geek. i joined the windows insider program for windows 10 pre release and have been learning over the years how to work with windows rather than fighting it . this is good . i used to have 2 windows 10, one in virtual machine and the other non insider windows 7 upgrade on a computer. i lost one and kept the insider on my own computer as a paid for win7--> 10 upgrade because i lost so much in the corrupted system image or whatever happened. but while i keep cortana alive , i have used it less than a dozen times in a year. i still use file explorer and search on line with duck duck go. dumb but it works best for me. i did provide plenty of input back before the release candidate came out and through the first release on cortana but had huge issues with it then. it is better and i do not have any resource hogging or over utilization i can notice from it.
 
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From what you wrote, if you have not already you might want to consider Classic Shell which provides a Win 7 user-interface, also wirh Win 10 Pro. Further, on 2 HP Elitebooks we have WiFi and Edge OFF so as to minimize "telemetry", etc. Also use Kaspersky and Firefox as effective filters with Windows Defender set on Periiodic Scan and we manually download security updates (HP directly sends driver updates). And of course Cybereason Ransomefree. Chrome is a backup, but unlike Firefox which is so set, have to manuially delete ALL browsing history (why no Spam).

All works smoothly together with no intrusions and almost no Spam ever (all software set to aid).
 
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I'm using a Toshiba 64-bit laptop running Windows 10 Home, it has 12 gb memory, 2T hard drive.

I hate very few things in this life, not even my ex-husbands. But to say that I HATE Cortana is the understatement of the year.

Any time that my computer slows to a crawl, or my downloads take twice as long as normal, I check Task Manager and yes, she is back.

Almost every time that Windows does an update, that witch is back and I have to go through this Chinese fire drill again. I've checked all my settings and nothing concerning Cortana is turned on, so why is it malfunctioning? Actually, I don't care about why at this point, I just want her gone.

Doesn't anyone out there actually know how to disable it for good? Some time ago, I found some code on the internet that I could update to the Register file that worked. I used it numerous times for over a year but with this last update it no longer works. And so I am here hoping someone can help.

Please tell me how to kill this witch permanently.

Thank you for your help.
This works for me.
 

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Although I do NOT have Cortana any more (WinX Pro allows easy riddance), for those wary of downloading stuff without knowing the specifics, here is the source and contents of the above zip file:


" Disable Cortana on Windows 10
It is very simple. Here is the procedure going through the registry :

Make the combination of the keys "Windows + R", type "regedit.exe" in the window that appears and click "OK".

Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Windows Search
Right-click on "AllowCortana" and select "Edit" and assign it the value "0".
All you have to do is restart Windows.

I put at your disposal a script which will allow you to carry out the procedure above automatically and simply:

Download the file.
Unzip the archive.
Right click on this file and choose "Install" or "Merge". "
 
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bondr006, I love humor also but since using [Windows] since DOS1.0, this attempt by Microsoft to control the PC YOU PAID for is getting a little old and is not really "funny".

Most features Microsoft has implemented into Windows, they stole and have been sued many times and lost. This is consistence with their arrogance to HIDE things [like how to turn things on/off], spy on their customers. But one can not single out Microsoft for these bad deeds. For those of you users since DOS 1.0, this is a growing trend of "BIG BROTHER-ISM". They do not care what you want, think...You really have no choice. This is the "down-side" of them being big, in control of the PC market today. IT did not come from them "being good, the best products" but smart marketing strategy.

Despite being a user from almost DAY ONE of PC's, Windows, Windows 10 makes me struggle to customize MY computer of features I DON'T NEED, WANT that gobble up my PC's resources. THIS lost control is NOT how computers started [my first computer was 1964] . It was designed as a TOOL FOR us, not them.

If you used, remember, SUN UNIX, NOTHING WAS beyond your reach, control, you turning things, features, ON or OFF.. You owned your computer and controlled it. Windows, no so. Get used to it, you ARE at the MERCY of Microsoft once you buy one of their products.
One only has to remember DOS 1.0, Windows 1.0...3.0..XP, 95.. to see the trend from you "owning" your computer to you losing control in lieu of Microsoft telling YOU what is good for YOU.

I have given up "jousting with their windmills" as they will not stop, tell you how to gain control of YOUR PC.
 
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From what you wrote, if you have not already you might want to consider Classic Shell which provides a Win 7 user-interface
The author has dropped support and made Classic Shell open source. A new group of authors have picked up the mantle and changed the name to Open Shell.
 

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