Windows 10 tweak: shutting off Cortana completely.


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Situation: I found one of our Neowin users who has 2GB of Ram who wants to not only disable Cortana but, remove it from the task manager since it runs in the background even though you disable it in System Settings>. For myself, 40MB is minimal in regards to memory but for me, it seems sloppy business to have a disable feature but the Cortana process is still running in the background. that's my opinion by the way. For those who wish to keep their system clean and get real estate on the task bar back, this trick is for you. I've rebooted and no issues, crashes or errors of any kind

 

I got rid of Cortana . 

 

1. open file explorer> navigate to C:\Windows\SystemApps

2. find the Cortana folder (see screenshot)

2jebk2p.jpg

3. Rename it by adding -bak to the folder name, you'll get a an error that it is being used.. KEEP THE DIALOG box open!!! do not click anything

4. open taskmanger and click on Cortana and endtask Be quick before Cortana opens again and commit to part Step 5

5. be fast.. go back to the error dialog about folder being open by another process and click ok, yes whatever it says. (hint: keep the dialog box to change the folder name side by side with the taskmanger window).

then your folder will be renamed and Cortana will no longer be running in task manager

 

recheck taskmanager.. viola'! Gone!

2mgjvye.png

 

I can verify it is a working way to disable Cortana and removes the process in task manager as well without ANY side effects.

Edited by chrisj1968
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This indeed may work but I would not recommend unless you are using a PC that meets the bare minimum requirements to rum Windows 10, You can see how much memory it uses below. It is not worth it. IMHOcta.png

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5 minutes ago, Gary7 said:

This indeed may work but I would not recommend unless you are using a PC that meets the bare minimum requirements to rum Windows 10, You can see how much memory it ses below. It is not worth it. IMHOcta.png

Tweak is perfectly eligible & applicable for the ones relying on devices with "Windows Experience Index" <5!

Can you please help suggest a similar Credible method to also facilitate an ouster of Windows-Defender footprints from System resources?

 

I actually use an alternative & therefore wish to thwart Windows-Defender in a similar manner. Help!

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2 minutes ago, saurabhdua said:

Tweak is perfectly eligible & applicable for the ones relying on devices with "Windows Experience Index" <5!

Can you please help suggest a similar Credible method to also facilitate an ouster of Windows-Defender footprints from System resources?

 

I actually use an alternative & therefore wish to thwart Windows-Defender in a similar manner. Help!

Try Winaero Tweaker now

 

 

def.PNG

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10 minutes ago, Gary7 said:

O Yes!...I did Download & have used the same once after following your advice yesterday!

 

Thanks! I have been able to reinstate ---Windows Photo Viewer  through this.

 

But scenario with Windows-Defender could be different..! Please refer to::

 

http://bit.ly/2b46D1O  to discover intricacies on this Topic.

 

Thanks again! 

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Just now, saurabhdua said:

O Yes!...I did Download & have used the same once after following your advice yesterday!

 

Thanks! I have been able to reinstate ---Windows Photo Viewer  through this.

 

But scenario with Windows-Defender could be different..! Please refer to::

 

http://bit.ly/2b46D1O  to discover intricacies on this Topic.

 

Thanks again! 

This process had nothing to do with GP. The application works,

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1 hour ago, chrisj1968 said:

I can verify it is a working way to disable Cortana and removes the process in task manager as well without ANY side effects.

No, no you can't. You ran this "Tweak" for a day at the most? Were there any updates during that time? Did another feature not run correctly because Cortana was missing? There are way too many variables that you didn't test against, so you do know that this worked for a day, and nothing NOTICEABLE happened, and these things are a very long way from "ANY side effects"

 

I'm not trying to nitpick or be a dick, but if Microsoft, Apple or Google, only tested software changes made for one day on one machine and no other changes being made, we'd all think they had lost their minds.

 

Cortana is part of Windows 10 and the amount of memory it uses is tiny (someone posted it was 2% in the other thread), if memory is that big of a concern download a slim version of Linux. The time spent trying to strip out features out of Windows 10 is small compared to learning to use Linux, and then you'd never have to worry about failed updates or Windows pitching a fit down the road. <- Just my $0.02 btw! :)

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4 minutes ago, DavidM said:

No, no you can't. You ran this "Tweak" for a day at the most? Were there any updates during that time? Did another feature not run correctly because Cortana was missing? There are way too many variables that you didn't test against, so you do know that this worked for a day, and nothing NOTICEABLE happened, and these things are a very long way from "ANY side effects"

 

I'm not trying to nitpick or be a dick, but if Microsoft, Apple or Google, only tested software changes made for one day on one machine and no other changes being made, we'd all think they had lost their minds.

 

Cortana is part of Windows 10 and the amount of memory it uses is tiny (someone posted it was 2% in the other thread), if memory is that big of a concern download a slim version of Linux. The time spent trying to strip out features out of Windows 10 is small compared to learning to use Linux, and then you'd never have to worry about failed updates or Windows pitching a fit down the road. <- Just my $0.02 btw! :)

ask him... -> 

 

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6 minutes ago, DavidM said:

No, no you can't. You ran this "Tweak" for a day at the most? Were there any updates during that time? Did another feature not run correctly because Cortana was missing? There are way too many variables that you didn't test against, so you do know that this worked for a day, and nothing NOTICEABLE happened, and these things are a very long way from "ANY side effects"

 

I'm not trying to nitpick or be a dick, but if Microsoft, Apple or Google, only tested software changes made for one day on one machine and no other changes being made, we'd all think they had lost their minds.

 

Cortana is part of Windows 10 and the amount of memory it uses is tiny (someone posted it was 2% in the other thread), if memory is that big of a concern download a slim version of Linux. The time spent trying to strip out features out of Windows 10 is small compared to learning to use Linux, and then you'd never have to worry about failed updates or Windows pitching a fit down the road. <- Just my $0.02 btw! :)

"IF" there were any noticeable side effects, I'd have seen them by now. I've done this trick, reverted back and redid the tweak no issues.

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Just now, DavidM said:

All I see is a spinning wheel, what is that supposed to be?

excuse me, I understand you don't like this.. that's fine. But don't ruin an otherwise innocent thread. why are you criticizing this tip?

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Chris, if you can, could you at least edit your original post to mention the downsides of this 'tweak'? Some people may not like having Windows search crippled.

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Just now, Zag L. said:

Chris, if you can, could you at least edit your original post to mention the downsides of this 'tweak'? Some people may not like having Windows search crippled.

I sort of did that in the thread.

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1 minute ago, Zag L. said:

Chris, if you can, could you at least edit your original post to mention the downsides of this 'tweak'? Some people may not like having Windows search crippled.

when I find a downside. I also recouped my taskbar space as well.. in combination with the registry tweak by setting AllowCortana to 0. to put the Cortana search box BACK on the taskbar, change the 0 to a 1

But if I do, I'll post any downsides. but right now, any downsides are purely cosmetic.

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7 minutes ago, chrisj1968 said:

excuse me, I understand you don't like this.. that's fine. But don't ruin an otherwise innocent thread. why are you criticizing this tip?

I'm not trying to "ruin an otherwise innocent thread", this tip could disable updates, stop programs from running or cause countless other small errors.

 

Here is what I see from your post? spin.jpg

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