How can I disable Cortana on the desktop...

Etherton

Etherton

Will Bang for Poof
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Aug 7, 2006
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I can't find a way to get rid of Cortana on my desktop without clicking on it and closing (x) out. Is it possible?

Cortana.jpg
 
Before the Anniversary Update I turned Cortana off via a simple toggle switch, of course that allowed for some level of personaliseation beyond the scope of Microsoft's wishes so now the process is a little more complicated depending on whether you run Windows Home or Pro.

See here:

https://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/

However, don't be surprised if you turn your PC on one day and it's re enabled as a result of some Microsoft update.
 
Cmanser7 said:
MS is starting to get very bold.
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It's their operating system, not yours, so they can and will do whatever they want with it. Someday people are going to actually come to understand this aspect of things - even in spite of it being free of cost (if you took advantage of that when it was available or you make use of the still working accessibility loophole) doesn't mean it's your OS, it's not. ;)
 
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Tiberian said:
It's their operating system, not yours, so they can and will do whatever they want with it. Someday people are going to actually come to understand this aspect of things - even in spite of it being free of cost (if you took advantage of that when it was available or you make use of the still working accessibility loophole) doesn't mean it's your OS, it's not. ;)
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It's your god damn PC, not theirs. It's your personal information and browsing habits, not theirs - If they want my personal information to sell to third parties as targeted advertising, they can pay me for it.

Bending over and submitting is only making things worse and the above comment is ridiculous. I paid full retail (around $220.00AU on release) for Windows 10 and everyone else handed over their Windows 7 licence for it, it was in no way free.
 
Yeah, and... my point still stands as it always has. :D
 
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If Cortana is so smart why can't I enable it and just ask "Cortana please kill yourself" to remove it? That's how it should work. :D
 
Tiberian said:
It's their operating system, not yours, so they can and will do whatever they want with it. Someday people are going to actually come to understand this aspect of things - even in spite of it being free of cost (if you took advantage of that when it was available or you make use of the still working accessibility loophole) doesn't mean it's your OS, it's not. ;)
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Fuck that bullshit. Its my fucking PC. MS can get fucked.
 
Winaero Tweaker. They keep it up to date and it has options to control Cortana among a ton of things.
 
OEM said:
Fuck that bullshit. Its my fucking PC. MS can get fucked.
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Love it, this is what MS users should be doing - Getting rightfully pissed off as opposed to making up excuses.
 
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Tiberian said:
It's their operating system, not yours, so they can and will do whatever they want with it. Someday people are going to actually come to understand this aspect of things - even in spite of it being free of cost (if you took advantage of that when it was available or you make use of the still working accessibility loophole) doesn't mean it's your OS, it's not. ;)
Click to expand...

It may pain people to admit it but you are right. Microsoft can do whatever they want with their product and are not obligated to change their ways even if their customers want them to. That is precisely why I know they will never do things the way I want them done. It would take the entire board of directors plus a majority of shareholders to all suddenly care about privacy and respecting customers to change the way things are done. It will be a cold day in Hell before that ever happens. I came to peace with that and decided my options were to pick an OS that would respect my wishes or to bend over and take it. I opted to move my main system over to Linux.
 
Simmonz said:
It may pain people to admit it but you are right. Microsoft can do whatever they want with their product and are not obligated to change their ways even if their customers want them to. That is precisely why I know they will never do things the way I want them done. It would take the entire board of directors plus a majority of shareholders to all suddenly care about privacy and respecting customers to change the way things are done. It will be a cold day in Hell before that ever happens. I came to peace with that and decided my options were to pick an OS that would respect my wishes or to bend over and take it. I opted to move my main system over to Linux.
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Very, very well said my friend.
 
Ok,
This is a loose interpretation on what a friend did to remove Cortana. Stop the process, rename Cortana's location to something else (add .old to the folder) before the process restarts. i will get more specifics, but effectively, this is what he did. Note: The Cortana home folder should reappear, just empty. In addition, due to Cortana replacing the search of the OS, you wont be able to search items...

I am looking into this, and seeing if it is possible to perm remove, as Microsoft could merely reinstall it via an update. And, also to see if I can replace the search ability on the pc.
 
I used DWS_Lite, killed Cortana and other spyware in my Win10 VM. For real privacy just use Linux.
 
Just flip off the toggles in the 'cortana settings'.
Don't like the icon? Right click in the empty space of the task bar.. cortana -> hidden.
 
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