You can’t turn off Cortana in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update - millercopievere

Microsoft made an interesting conclusion with Windows 10's Anniversary Update, which is now in its final stages of growing before it rolls outgoing on August 2.

Cortana, the personal digital help that replaced Windows 10's search mathematical function and taps into Bing's servers to response your queries with contextual consciousness, no longer has an off switch in Windows 10 Home and Professional.

cortanabuild14393 — Cortana's settings in the Day of remembrance Update.

The impact on you at home: Similar to how Microsoft blocked Google compatibility with Cortana, the company is now slip off the plain vanilla search option. That actually makes a certain of amount of sense. Unless you turned off all the various cloud-connected bits of Windows 10, there's not a ton of difference between Cortana and the operating system's staple lookup capabilities.

Microsoft even says as much: "With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the search box is now Cortana," Microsoft said in a statement. "Customers can expect the assonant great research experience powered by Bing and Microsoft Edge with the added benefit of Cortana's personality."

In fact, the biggest functional difference is that Cortana is far more useful than apparent search thanks to the whole number assistant's handy voice commands, reminders, the power to send textual matter messages, and so on. That said, Microsoft's move is probably less well-nig the practical differences between Cortana and search, and Thomas More about pushing people to consumption Cortana.

But what if you still put on't want to usance Cortana in the least?

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Refusing to download the Anniversary Update is non an selection. You can stay it, but since Windows 10 updates are mandatory for home users, you'll yet receive the update.

"Cortana works best when you communicatory in, but if you choose not to, you seat still apply her to jaw, search the World Wide Web and your Windows gimmick," Microsoft told PCWorld. "If you like, you stern too easily hide Cortana and the search box in the taskbar altogether."

(Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet notes, ironically, that Cortana is off by default and cannot be turnedon in specific editions of Windows 10 for education, even with the Day of remembrance Update applied. But unless you work for an educational institution, you North Korean won't be able to use them.)

Set limits on Cortana

settingsprivacybuild14393 — The privacy section of the Settings app in the Anniversary Update

You can also undergo a few steps to limit Cortana's reach along your system. First, head toStart > Settings > Privacy > Speech, inking, & typing. Forthwith click happening Stop getting to know me so selectTurn off. This effectively makes Cortana deaf to the sound of your voice as well as visually challenged to your typing history and—for stylus wielders— handwriting patterns. Information technology also turns off system-wide dictation.

If you're loss to hold out the search box on your taskbar open Cortana and so click on the settings cog in the lower-right corner. Happening Cortana's settings screen, disable every slider that can be set to Off, much as search history and gimmick history. That helps prevent some data usage and tracking, only Cortana will still be running.

To wipe Cortana's memory of you, click onChange what Cortana knows about me in the dapple, which is at the very top of the settings panel. On the next screen, scroll down to the prat and click Clear. This orders Microsoft to delete any info information technology has saved about you via Cortana, including personal interests, browsing story, and sol on. If you're going to use Cortana but feel uneasy roughly its data collection you should lucid this option periodically.

You can even get rid of Cortana's presence entirely, equally Microsoft aforesaid. To do this right-click happening the Cortana search box seat, and take "Hidden". (Note that if you go forth "Hey Cortana" turned on, the Cortana package will re-seem when you say those words, or you can use up the Cortana app.)

After that's done you can too go to Bing Maps to cut your saved places (if you have any) as well as Bing's hunt history page to clear selective information stored around your search habits.

Use an alternative

If you're still unsatisfied afterward you've game as much of Cortana as possible, consider ditching it wholly and loss with a third-party system search utility instead. If you aren't exploitation Cortana's web-socially connected features all you really need is file and folder search, at any rate.

One of our favorite third-party seek tools is Everything. This wonderful donationware is small, orbicular, easy to use, and (above all) fast. You can also pin Everything to your taskbar to have searching as easy atomic number 3 Microsoft's reinforced-in answer.

Naturally, another alternative is to dump Windows 10 altogether and substitution to Linux. That's certainly a valid unconventional—as commenters connected this article will nobelium doubt mention before long. PCWorld's guide to the best Linux distros for beginners and Windows XP refugees give notice help set out you up to speed if you adjudicate to prefer for that forceful solution.

Updated at 4:54 PM to add a statement from Microsoft every bit well as a bung to hide the Cortana lookup corner all told. Updated again at 9:55 AM on July 29 to note that Cortana is murder by default in specific editions of Windows 10 for educators.