For a friend, how can he completely disable Cortana?

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This post title says it all. My friend who recently upgraded to Windows 10 wants to not only stop Cortana’s popups, but also to disable Cortana. I figure that the solution is a REG file.

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Just uninstall it

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/how-to-uninstall-cortana

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Regarding the PowerShell method mentioned in the article linked above, more details can be found here on AskWoody:

Removing built-in Apps from Win10 2004/20H2/21H1

I have used that method to strip out everything except the Store, Snip & Sketch, Voice Recorder, and the Hidden “apps” shown in the first screen shot.

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GoneToPlaid, Microfix, PKCano

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Hi GoneToPlaid:

If your friend doesn’t want to uninstall Cortana (see the PowerShell commands for Win 10 and Win 11 in the 23-Mar-2023 Tom’s Guide article How to Uninstall Cortana), I have the following three settings turned OFF on my Win 10 Pro v22H2 laptop. Note that I also removed the Cortana button on my taskbar by right-clicking the taskbar and disabling “Show Cortana button”.

• Settings | Apps | Startup | Cortana
• Settings | Privacy | Background Apps | Let Apps Run in the Background | Cortana (saves power when OFF but I believe this also disables auto-updating of this app by the Microsoft Store)
• Settings | Privacy | Voice Activation | Allow Apps to Use Voice Activation | Choose Which Microsoft Store Apps Can Access Your Microphone | Cortana (not necessary on my system since I currently have the microphone disabled for all apps at Settings | Privacy | Allow Access to the Microphone on This Device | Change).

Those three settings can also be managed from a single location if you go to Settings | Apps | Apps & Features | Cortana and click on the Advanced Options link (see attached image – my voice activation setting is greyed out there because my microphone is disabled for all apps).

I believe older Win 10 version like Win 10 v1909 used to have a setting at Settings | System | Notifications & Actions | Get Notifications From These Senders | Cortana that could be turned OFF but it looks like that Cortana setting is no longer available in my current Win 10 v22H2 settings.

The 01-Jun-2022 How-To Geek article How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10 and 26-Jun-2022 Lifewire article How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10 both have instructions for disabling Cortana permanently in the Local Group Policy Editor (if Win 10 Pro) or from the registry (if Win 10 Home) if you prefer that method.  Just note the warning in the Lifewire article that states”Disabling Cortana via the Windows Registry Editor is often irreversible unless you perform a clean install of Windows 10“.  I’m not sure if that is still true now that Cortana is available as a Microsoft Store UWP app and isn’t as tightly integrated with the Win 10 OS as it used to be.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.2728 * Firefox v111.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2302.7-1.1.20200.4 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.26.259-1.0.1976 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279

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GoneToPlaid

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I have Win 10 Pro and just used Group Policy Editor. Worked great!

Allow Cortana: This policy setting specifies whether Cortana is allowed on the device.

If you enable or don’t configure this setting, Cortana will be allowed on the device. If you disable this setting, Cortana will be turned off.

When Cortana is off, users will still be able to use search to find things on the device.

 

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Microfix, lmacri

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The attached PDF are the instructions I used to disable Cortana on my Windows 10 Home systems. It basically adds the registry value utilized by Group Policy Editor on Windows 10 Pro versions. I tested on my systems and Cortana can be turned back on by changing the value of that registry entry from 0 (disabled) to 1 (enabled), but if you don’t want it, you won’t need to enable it again.

Fix-Slow-Open-Save-Windows-Disable-Cortana

HTH, Dana:))

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GoneToPlaid

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How do you use group policy editor to disable Cortana?

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Local Computer Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Search
Allow Cortana = Disabled
Allow Cortana above lock screen = Disabled
Allow Cortana Page in OOBE on an AAD account = Disabled
Allow search and Cortana to use location = Disabled

There are other points in there that you may also want to disable (like websearch, search highlights, etc)

4 users thanked author for this post.

TechTango, GoneToPlaid, JohnW, Microfix

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