Windows 10 May 2020 Update Makes it Easier to Get Rid of Cortana
Windows 10 May 2020 Update comes with some big for Cortana, and one of those gives you the chance to easily disable it. Another lets you get rid of it entirely..
First, if you just don’t want Cortana bothering you – that’s easy to do.
By default, the new standalone Cortana app is still one of the Windows 10 startups so it will start upon boot. If you’re not going to use Cortana, you don’t need it starting automatically. After all, the more programs that start with Windows the slower Windows boots and the more resources are used when Windows is running. You can stop Cortana from starting with Windows by Task Manager. Right-click on the taskbar and choose “Task Manager” – or here’s a tip for you – use the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC shortcut to open it.
Once Task Manager is open, click on the tab at the top labeled ‘Start-up’ at the’. On the left side, all of the programs that start with Windows are listed by name. Find Cortana in the list, right-click on it and click so obviously you’re looking for the one called Cortana. Right-click on it and choose “Disable” from the right-click menu. That’s it. Cortana will no longer start with Windows.
That will stop Cortana from running when start your PC, but you can still run it if and when you want to.
But what if you never plan on using it? You can remove the Cortana app completely. But it’s still not easy to do – you can’t just remove it from Settings.> Apps > Apps & features, but you can remove it from your computer completely by using Windows PowerShell.
To do this, type ‘PowerShell’ into the taskbar search. When the results appear, click on ‘Run As Administrator’ in the right panel and click ‘Yes’ to the pop-up question.
In the window that appears, type (or copy and paste) the following, then press enter:
Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-Appx
That will remove Cortana from your computer. If you’re a stickler for perfection, there will be some traces of it left in the registry, and you can root those out if you’re comfortable with editing the registry and know what you’re doing. But this isn’t necessary, however, and it probably isn’t worth the time and effort especially for less experienced users. Dabbling in the registry can be hazardous to your Windows installation unless you’re careful.