When you have a smart AI-powered virtual assistant like “Cortana” ready to answer your queries, offer up the latest news, and even break laughter with tongue in cheek jokes, computing on Windows 10 never seems to be a mundane affair. That being said, Cortana isn’t perfect as there are quite a few hurdles that prevent the personal assistant from realizing its full potential. Also, if you own a budget PC, Cortana can be bad for you as it consumes quite a lot of resources. And then there’s the doubt that it might always be listening to our private conversation. For all these reasons or for a reason of your own, if you want to disable Cortana on Windows 10 you have come to the right place. In this article, we are going to show you step-by-step guide to remove Cortana from Windows 10 devices.
Why Would You Want to Disable Cortana
Before diving straight into the guide, let’s delve a little deeper into why you may want to disable Cortana on your Windows 10 PC. One of the prime reasons why a lot of PC users aren’t happy with Cortana is that it’s extremely restrictive. Whenever you ask it anything, it uses Edge browser and Bing search to answer the query. Though I have always found Bing up to the mark, it’s not yet at par with Google Search.
Remember, Cortana is designed to work with Windows 10 seamlessly and therefore Microsoft doesn’t want you to put it off. When you disable the virtual assistant, you will no longer get personalized news, reminders and natural language search through your files. So, move ahead with the process, keeping these disadvantages in mind.
Earlier, there used to be a simple switch to disable the personal assistant. However, with the introduction of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the tech giant has removed that easy option. But bother not, there are a couple of hacks to get over the line. Let’s get started!
You can use the native Registry Editor to disable Microsoft’s virtual assistant on your computer running Windows 10 Home or Pro. Do note that Registry is meant for serious stuff and therefore you must be very cautious while dealing with it. The better way to go ahead is to create a restore point so that you will always be on the safer side of the stream.
Now, head over to the below-given key in the left sidebar.
Next up, you need to name the value of “AllowCortana”. Just double-click on it and be sure to set the value as “0”.
Later, if you happen to change your mind and wish to use Cortana again, all you need to do is come back at this very setting and find “AllowCortana” value. Then, you can set it to “1” or delete it to restore the functionality.
If you found the above process to be a little more intimidating, you can use our registry files to do it in a few simple clicks.
Note: Microsoft keeps adding back Cortana after every Windows update. So you will have to run the same Registry files to disable it again.
If you are using Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise version, you can disable Cortana with ease thanks to Group Policy-the feature that’s aimed at offering centralized management and configuration of operating systems as well as apps.
- Up next, either restart your computer or log out of the group policy editor and log back in.
