72% of Windows 10 Users use Cortana Less than Once a Month

Zarathustra[H] said:
Today at Build 2017, Microsoft's developer conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Windows 10 has reached a new milestone, with 500 million monthly active installations. Of course, this is about half the billion installations they had targeted reaching by now, and they reached that figure using the most aggressive, heavy handed push in software history, but still it's an impressive number. He also announced that 141 million users now use Cortana, bragged about this figure being larger than the user base for Amazon's Echo/Alexa devices, and continued to speak about the new features they are adding to Cortana to further drive its adoption. Surely, this is significant, because in this space recent conventional wisdom suggests Amazon is the player to beat, but let's take a closer look at what Mr. Nadella is really telling us.

141 Million monthly users means 141 million out of 500 million users use Cortana at least once a month. This means that there are 359 million Windows 10 users, or ~72%, who either don't use Cortana at all, or use it less than once a month. While Mr. Nadella is tooting Microsoft's horn on this one, it seems like it takes quite some spin to turn this number into a success story. To put things into perspective, people who use an Amazon Echo actually have to intentionally buy a separate device to do so. They know they want an assistant device, and they intentionally buy it. Cortana, on the other hand, ships with every Windows 10 install, and is just sitting there waiting to be used, sometimes even trying to persuade you to do so, and even then, they can only muster a ~28% adoption rate of people who at least use it rather infrequently. To me, this sounds less like a success story, and more like they are not meeting their potential on this front at all, especially since the numbers include not just Windows 10 PC's and Tablets, but ALL Cortana enabled devices, including Xbox, HoloLens, and even Windows 10 Mobile. With their celebrating only being 50% to plan as far as the Windows 10 install base goes, and having only a 28% adoption rate for Cortana, all this spin must be making the folks over at Microsoft quite dizzy.

That's not to say that Cortana's implementation is any worse than that of Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, or Apple's Siri, but could it just be that people don't want this type of service on their computers? For me that is definitely the case. In fact, I don't care for this newfangled "assistant" trend on any of my devices. First thing I did when I installed Windows 10, was to google the registry hack to get rid of Cortana. Likewise, when I bought my Google Pixel phone, the first thing I did was to make sure that the assistant (according to Google, one of the major selling points of this phone) was completely disabled. Personally I don't want anything cloud enabled or any kind of automated assistant on my computer or any of my devices, and judging by these numbers there are lots of people out there at least slightly like me. Microsoft may have quite the uphill battle to convince users to embrace the technology on their computers, and they are going to need to tread lightly when they do so. I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm about one heavy handed strong-arm adoption tactic away from permanently erasing all Microsoft products from my computer. I can't be the only one.

Microsoft took the stage to unveil a bunch of new products that may not be as impressive as you’d like since most of them target developers, but they will probably influence the future of Windows. In this post, you’ll find all the most important announcements from Build 2017.
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you act like a grandpa\grandma don't ya :D

I love my cloud photo backup, I love my maps timeline, I ain't that concerned about my privacy in that sense... but I also copy it locally, I have it :)
but to the topic on hand.

Cortana Sucks, Like everything, it sucks cause no-one uses it, no-one uses it cause it ain't on par with siri and not even assistant.
I tried Norwegian and Japanese with Cortana. no luck.
English.. didn't like british English too well, smeared on the best murican accent I could muster and voila it got something but cudn't find what I was askin about - My local weather.

It may be like Bing or yahoo(japan) works in one specific country and nowhere else...
I tell ya, bing is absolutely horrible here, change my locale settings to murican and voila, bing searches = better but screws up everything else.
 
This is completely false, I use Cortana at least once a week, I tell the her to shut up and make me a sandwich, bitch doesn't listen though...

Siri on the other hand is nice enough to show me a picture of a sandwich, close enough.
 
aokman said:
This is completely false, I use Cortana at least once a week, I tell the her to shut up and make me a sandwich, bitch doesn't listen though...

Siri on the other hand is nice enough to show me a picture of a sandwich, close enough.
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I just tried that and she said "Nope." Which is nicer than my wife would put it.
 
I haven't had a problem with Cortana so far. On every new system we deploy, we set GPO's to disable it and install startup scripts that forcefully reapply the GPO's in case Microsoft changes them after an update.

On a lot of the machines we also have logon scripts scheduled to run that forcefully uninstall the Store itself and anything else Windows 10 related.
We also completely remove all CEIP and feedback related tasks from the computer.
 
mdburkey said:
I haven't had a problem with Cortana so far. On every new system we deploy, we set GPO's to disable it and install startup scripts that forcefully reapply the GPO's in case Microsoft changes them after an update.

On a lot of the machines we also have logon scripts scheduled to run that forcefully uninstall the Store itself and anything else Windows 10 related.
We also completely remove all CEIP and feedback related tasks from the computer.
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Need to sell that script. You would make bank!
 
Jeremy C said:
Need to sell that script. You would make bank!
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All of this stuff is well documented and there's plenty of good, free tools to management. So I'm thinking it's not exactly a gold mine. For as much as people complain about this stuff, controlling is FAR simpler than many are making it out to be.
 
Vermillion said:
Sad thing is this is one of the few places in Windows 10 where I don't look at it as spying. I mean come on. Amazon, Apple (I guess worthless Siri kinda goes here? ;) ), and Google all do it too in this instance. It's a digital assistant. So it makes a lot of sense for MS to try to keep up with the competition.

I love Google Now. I use it daily. I have two Google Home's in my house now. Love them. I use Google for many things like reminders, adding things to the shopping list, timers, alarms, and oh so much more. So I get why people who want to be invested in the MS ecosystem would use Cortana. It makes sense for those people just like Google makes sense for me.

My problem with Cortana is again, as with many bullshit things in Windows 10, there isn't a simple ON/OFF switch for those of us who don't want to be invested in the MS ecosystem in any way. Sure you can kinda disable Cortana but you can't fully just turn the bitch off. Cortana is still sitting there running in the background no matter what.
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Sure you can. Take ownership of the WindowsApps folder then in the coranta subfolder change the permissions on the SearchUI.exe application. Just uncheck the 'read & execute' checkbox for all possible users. After a reboot, cortana isn't able to start.
 
Vermillion said:
Sure you can kinda disable Cortana but you can't fully just turn the bitch off. Cortana is still sitting there running in the background no matter what.
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I use Classic Shell (have been since the introduction of Windows 8) and don't give Cortana the chance to start. I did the following as the registry hacks didn't stop the process from starting on my Home edition.
  1. Open Task Manager and locate the Cortana process.
  2. Right-click on the process and select Open File Location
  3. In the File Explorer window go up one level, Right-click on the C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana... directory and select rename it (I simply added .BAK to the end.
    - You will get a popup telling you it can't perform the action because files are being used and asked to Try Again (leave that prompt up).
  4. Right-click the Cortana process in the Task Manager and select End Task then immediately click YES to the Try Again prompt.
The directory should be renamed and Win10 will now be unable to restart the Cortana process. It's only a slightly shorter process than taking the ownership route. However, I liked the brute force feel in denying Cortana :mad:

After a reboot, if not immediately, the default left-click Win10 Start Menu will be disabled due to the loss of Cortana. Problem solved by using Classic Shell;).


It works but still doesn't beat a SIMPLE on/off switch as you and many others suggest(y)
 
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heatlesssun said:
All of this stuff is well documented and there's plenty of good, free tools to management. So I'm thinking it's not exactly a gold mine. For as much as people complain about this stuff, controlling is FAR simpler than many are making it out to be.
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Doublespeak detected. What's on trial is that there's no BUILT IN way to turn off Cortana. Off doesn't mean off - the process still lurks in the background, and then it's re-enabled in the next update.

Third party, homegrown hacks? They can be patched out by MS in the next update, so they aren't any guarantee. The fact that people are still "complaining" now two years into this trainwreck OS should give MS some pause. Trying to force usage of 10's unpopular features isn't working.

BTW, there's really no need to OCD-reply to every post on the board that's critical of Windows 10.
 
"Hey Cortana, go f*ck yourself!"

"OK, I found 3 places near you that have fried Peking ducks"

"No, that's not what I ..... ok give me the list, what the hell"

And that's the story of how Microsoft forced me to eat Peking duck. True story. Well, not really.
 
DPI said:
BTW, there's really no need to OCD-reply to every post on the board that's critical of Windows 10.
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But you're spreading misinformation on this. How to control this stuff is well documented by Microsoft and you even started a thread by a guy who used that same information to disable all sorts of things. Yes, things might change but it will be documented, that's who enterprises control this stuff. You can say fuck Windows 10 all to hell for all I care, but that doesn't give you the right to completely disregard the facts and the documentation on how this stuff is controlled.
 
SvenBent said:
I don't recall ever saying cortana destroyed a system. can you please provide a direction to where i said it?
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I asked in response to this:

SvenBent said:
Waitig for manofgoat to come in and tell us how we are all wrong not to submit to ms digital parenting even if its damaging our systems....
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And fair enough, you didn't mention Cortana by name. I use this stuff where most people are just bashing it so if there are problems I am actually curious.
 
heatlesssun said:
I asked in response to this:
And fair enough, you didn't mention Cortana by name. I use this stuff where most people are just bashing it so if there are problems I am actually curious.
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I didn't mention Cortana because it was not in regards to cortana.
In another thread manofgoat was defending it was OK that the CC update for windows 10 deleted among other stuff deamon tools from my system with no warning or information. I had to figure it out the daamon tool suddenly was gone on my system after the update.
Manofgoat sad he preferred stuff being deleted from his system without choice or information because he liked that the system "just worked" which is kinda an oxymoron as clearly the system did not work for me after the update.

Besides this fact other issues was that it enabled windows firewall again despite i was running with another firewall. which leads to issues when both firewall was running that whenever i would open up to many connection ( like torrents) my systme would slow down to a crawl with 94% CPU usage. Torrent tool using a little above one core fully (14% of total cpu usage) and the rest going to the two firewalls.

I've been running windows 10 for years. but this lates update was the straw. I'm reinstalling windows 7 tomorrow when i'm off work.
 
It was neat, but unless there is a standalone device, I can't find much use for such things. I like the echo, or siri when just plugged in on the night stand. But if I am sitting with a keyboard in front of me, I can't see much use. Just like I dont ask alexa questions when I am on my laptop either, just faster to type.
 
heatlesssun said:
All of this stuff is well documented and there's plenty of good, free tools to management. So I'm thinking it's not exactly a gold mine. For as much as people complain about this stuff, controlling is FAR simpler than many are making it out to be.
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That's bullshit and you know it. There are lots of small annoyances that needs tweaking. It takes expertise to understand and apply the documentation, and more importantly it takes time. Reading all related documentation and applying it all, or even packaging it into a neat script would probably take weeks. So don't act as if it's nothing.
 
I played around with it the first day I installed Windows 10, and I've since forgotten it even exists until I see an article like this one.
 
heatlesssun said:
All of this stuff is well documented and there's plenty of good, free tools to management. So I'm thinking it's not exactly a gold mine. For as much as people complain about this stuff, controlling is FAR simpler than many are making it out to be.
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The man said that he not only has to apply GPO but also run start up scripts on every boot just in case Microsoft re enable what the admins have worked hard to disable?! Explain to me again just how that's FAR simpler than many are making it out to be? Because there's at least one step in the process I just outlined that without a doubt should not be necessary, and that's not even taking into consideration the scripts needed to forcibly disable the Microsoft Store!

There's another process similar to this, it's called 'jumping through hoops'.

Once again, not picking on Microsoft, although they don't make it difficult - Just calling a spade a spade and not spreading Microsoft's cheeks and lovingly blowing a warm gush of air between them.
 
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Windows 10 updated and rebooted itself when I wasn't at the PC and when I woke it up today it automatically started Edge with tabs open. What is this cancer Microsoft? You now automatically open Edge when I resume my PC? I had Firefox open I didn't need Edge.
 
I have the amazon Echo in my house in 3 places and use it for sports scores and weather and music and setting alarms while cooking or napping. I have quite enjoyed it. However, on my PC, i just want to type my search in and have google just handle it. Cortina gets in the way more then it helps as it slows me down. I didn't realize it was there till the searches failed for awhile and I was manually going to google. I suppose I don't know what cortina is for on a PC. We are directly interacting with the PC and use normal search utilities such as google or we browse to what we want. I understand the idea with the hand's free internet connected echo. (although it actually needs to be able to properly search google for some basic info..lol)
 
BulletDust said:
The man said that he not only has to apply GPO but also run start up scripts on every boot just in case Microsoft re enable what the admins have worked hard to disable?! Explain to me again just how that's FAR simpler than many are making it out to be? Because there's at least one step in the process I just outlined that without a doubt should not be necessary, and that's not even taking into consideration the scripts needed to forcibly disable the Microsoft Store!

There's another process similar to this, it's called 'jumping through hoops'.

Once again, not picking on Microsoft, although they don't make it difficult - Just calling a spade a spade and not spreading Microsoft's cheeks and lovingly blowing a warm gush of air between them.
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And all I was saying is that it's all well documented through GP, registry settings, port blocking or service disabling or some combination. On enterprise and edu versions GP should handle most of it. One GP item was dropped with Pro IIRC but there are a lot of policies around this. So things can change but the general process of this is no different than it was for Windows 7 but there are more things to deal with.
 
Burticus said:
"Hey Cortana, go f*ck yourself!"

"OK, I found 3 places near you that have fried Peking ducks"

"No, that's not what I ..... ok give me the list, what the hell"

And that's the story of how Microsoft forced me to eat Peking duck. True story. Well, not really.
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ROFL!

That sounds exactly like my 'hands-free' conversations with my phone in my noisy rattletrap car. Maybe we should teach Cortana to cuss properly. THEN we might respect her?
 
M76 said:
That's bullshit and you know it. There are lots of small annoyances that needs tweaking. It takes expertise to understand and apply the documentation, and more importantly it takes time. Reading all related documentation and applying it all, or even packaging it into a neat script would probably take weeks. So don't act as if it's nothing.
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If someone is concerned about every piece of information that may be shared on a connected device, yeah that does take some time and understanding. Many people that have discussed this subject didn't understand how a lot of this has long worked in Windows like the connections to the Network Connection Status Indicator. There are countless thousands of configuration options in Windows that aren't exposed though a UI but I've never said there should be in the box UI options for things like telemetry or Cortana (the web search and data sharing part, it also does local searches without the connectivity). But it's not that hard of a process with tools. Anyone here that's complaining about this stuff, on an individual level, really, Winaero takes care of it. It's constantly updated and explains exactly what it does for each option. From things like disabling Cortana to adding seconds to the clock in the task bar.
 
otherweeb said:
ROFL!

That sounds exactly like my 'hands-free' conversations with my phone in my noisy rattletrap car. Maybe we should teach Cortana to cuss properly. THEN we might respect her?
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"Cortana, find me some motherfucking Peking Duck pronto."
"Bitch, don't be telling me to find you some fucking duck!"
"Woman, you better find me that duck!"
"Fine, here are three fucking locations to get your duck. Shit."
"Thanks Cortana"
 
heatlesssun said:
And all I was saying is that it's all well documented through GP, registry settings, port blocking or service disabling or some combination. On enterprise and edu versions GP should handle most of it. One GP item was dropped with Pro IIRC but there are a lot of policies around this. So things can change but the general process of this is no different than it was for Windows 7 but there are more things to deal with.
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The EDU version doesn't have Cortana, for which I'm eternally grateful.
It's supposed to be part of build 1703, which I'm trying to figure out how to avoid.
 
EVIL-SCOTSMAN said:
Cortana ? Wtf is that ?
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Skynet

0518c32217490c19399609f29251f041f179f1.jpg
 
SvenBent said:
I didn't mention Cortana because it was not in regards to cortana.
In another thread manofgoat was defending it was OK that the CC update for windows 10 deleted among other stuff deamon tools from my system with no warning or information. I had to figure it out the daamon tool suddenly was gone on my system after the update.
Manofgoat sad he preferred stuff being deleted from his system without choice or information because he liked that the system "just worked" which is kinda an oxymoron as clearly the system did not work for me after the update.

Besides this fact other issues was that it enabled windows firewall again despite i was running with another firewall. which leads to issues when both firewall was running that whenever i would open up to many connection ( like torrents) my systme would slow down to a crawl with 94% CPU usage. Torrent tool using a little above one core fully (14% of total cpu usage) and the rest going to the two firewalls.

I've been running windows 10 for years. but this lates update was the straw. I'm reinstalling windows 7 tomorrow when i'm off work.
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Shoveitbent, you clearly have an issue with someone who does not agree with you.

On a different note, use Linux if you are not happy with a program with a known compatibility issue being removed. I personally have no issues with that, I do not call that parenting, I call that people being helpful. Please, yes, reinstall Windows 7 already and stay away from the threads that you already made clear you do not like.

Of course, why should I correct you when you said I like stuff being deleted randomly, by your meaning. No, I have no issues with something that is known and proven to cause issue being removed. If you prefer a BSOD or constant lockup because you do not want that incompatible program removed, fine. Me, I prefer to have a working system on a daily basis. Also, I think the last time anything on my system was removed was about 18 months ago, and it was an incompatible version of cpuz.
 
I uninstalled Cortana successfully. As an added bonus she took Win10 with her. Surprisingly, not missing the M$ Store either. I liked it better when personal computing was about personal computers, not data-mining for the corporate marketeers.
 
I switch it off on all machines I build (the rename folder still works). Never use it. I have a Amazon Echo...the novelty of that wore off pretty quick too. All I use that for now is weather updates and wake up alarms (mainly cos it has a less harsh wakup tone than my smartphone).

Oh yeah all the other stuff gets switched off too in Privacy/Apps etc.



As it should be...
 
Krenum said:
Skynet

0518c32217490c19399609f29251f041f179f1.jpg
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Cortona isn't capable of much. I suspect Shodan is actually behind this. :D

Now if I could get Shodan as a personal assistant... That might just get my attention.

"Look at you insect, searching the web for xxxx..."
 
clockdogg said:
I uninstalled Cortana successfully. As an added bonus she took Win10 with her. Surprisingly, not missing the M$ Store either. I liked it better when personal computing was about personal computers, not data-mining for the corporate marketeers.
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I remember those days, sadly that was before the internet was consumer level.

Since then, your mouse clicks on websites provided demographics to advertisers, not as much detail then, usually just region of interests. But it was the start of it. Just kept getting more detailed and easier for them since then.

Now it is so obnoxious that I see ads for items I already purchased.

Although our information and phone number/ address have always been sold to other companies. The problem is there is so much collected now and we get nothing for it.
 
J3RK said:
"Cortana, find me some motherfucking Peking Duck pronto."
"Bitch, don't be telling me to find you some fucking duck!"
"Woman, you better find me that duck!"
"Fine, here are three fucking locations to get your duck. Shit."
"Thanks Cortana"
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Sass factor 10, I like it! I would use Sassy Cortana!
 
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