How to Disable Cortana In Windows 10? [Working In 2021]

Windows 10 comprises a number of cool and interesting applications, but sometimes they can be pretty annoying — especially if they don’t go down through simple means. One such Windows application is Cortana, a digital voice assistant that comes pre-installed on Windows 10.

How to Disable Cortana In Windows 10?

1. Using Registry and Group Policy Editor

Since the Windows 10 Anniversary update, Microsoft has removed the option of manually toggling Cortana assistant. Nowadays, Windows users follow a more “crude” method to disable Cortana, which involves manipulating the Windows 10 registry.

I would recommend you to make System Restore Point before moving forward. Even if we ignore Microsoft’s warning, users alone have reported that disabling Cortana does bring a lot of bugs.

[NOTE: Getting rid of Cortana in Windows 10 may result in lags or bugs in Windows 10]

How to turn off Cortana in Windows 10 Home using the registry?

1. Type “Registry Editor” in Windows Search, and open it.
2. Click on the Registry Address bar and type the following address –HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. If you don’t see a “Windows Search” folder, right-click on the “Windows” folder and select New > Key. Name it as “Windows Search”
3. Choose “Windows Search”, right-click on the Windows panel on the right, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
4. Rename it to “AllowCortana”. Double-Click it and set the value to “0”
5. Restart the device

2. Using Windows Settings

Remove Cortana and Its Data

To give out personalized results, Cortana monitors daily activity on Windows 10 and analyses our personal information. This includes contacts, emails, search queries, Internet history, location and much more.

So the first thing you need to do is pause all of its activity monitoring services. To do that, head over to Windows 10 Settings > Choose Cortana > Choose  “Permissions and History” tab.

Permissions and History

• Click on “Manage the information Cortana can access from the device” > Toggle everything from On to Off
• Click on “Manage the information Cortana knows about me in the cloud” > Cortana will open the “Personal Information” tab in the Windows search > Scroll down and click on “Clear”
• Click on your sign in ID > Click on Sign Out
• Scroll down to the History section > Toggle off “View Activity History”

That’s it! You have successfully disabled all Cortana activities and removed your Cortana data.

Hide Cortana

Once you have stopped Cortana services, you just have to hide it from the Taskbar. To do that –

Right Click on the Taskbar > Click on Cortana > Choose “Hidden”

How to turn off Cortana in Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise using Local Group Policy Editor?

1. Open Run via Windows Search > Type gpedit.msc > Click OK
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search
3. On the right-panel, head over to “Allow Cortana,” settings double-click on it.
4. Set the “Allow Cortana” option to “Disabled”.
5. Click O.K. Restart your PC

Bear in mind, disabling Windows 10 Cortana using Registry or Local Group Policy Editor only hides the service. The Cortana process will still be up and running in the Task Manager.

Remove all Windows default apps

I have one more method which can delete bloatware from Windows 10 such as Cortana or other Windows Store Apps but it’s a bit technical and includes installing a fresh Windows.

So if you are already on an intermediate level of playing with Windows 10, don’t forget to check our article – Ultimate Windows 10 Bloatware Removal Tool

What is Cortana?

Cortana is a cloud-based personal assistant from Microsoft, which can perform a number of Windows-related tasks through voice commands. For instance, setting a reminder, asking for information and much more. Alternatively, one can also type a question in the search box.

Just like Siri and other assistant apps, Cortana can be activated via saying a wake-up command. But if it was so good, you wouldn’t be reading this article.

Why Disable Cortana in Windows 10?

Frankly, if I had to rank Cortana, Siri and Google Assistant based on their performance and intuitive approach, Cortana would likely reside in the end.

From misjudging commands to waking up out of nowhere, Cortana is pretty bad at what it does. On top of that, it is collecting our private information while giving us such half-cooked services at the same time.

One of the biggest reasons for disabling Cortana is the high disk usage in Windows 10. Even when the PC is idle, Cortana takes up a lot of RAM, resulting in a sluggish performance of the system.

While it is never reported to cause 100 percent disk usage in Windows 10, it is still a task that some people would like to get rid off form in the task manager.

Can you turn off Cortana?

Yes and no! Cortana is Microsoft’s pet project; it is embedded in Windows 10 in a way that makes it difficult to remove the Cortana task manager process. The easy way is you can stop all its monitoring services and remove Cortana from the Windows search.

Disable Cortana FAQs

Also Read: How To Permanently/Temporary Disable Windows Defender in Windows 10?