Microsoft making it harder to turn off Cortana

A new version of Windows 10 will soon be released to the general public.  It is called the Anniversary Update, and those who have been part of the Insider Program have already seen many of the new features that will come with this edition, including new controls in Settings for Cortana, the digital assistant that Microsoft is pushing us to use.

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Ian Paul at PC World was the first to report that Cortana no longer has a true off switch in Settings.  The adjustments that can be made now in Settings include the ability to enable or disable Cortana from hearing you, or allow her to respond to the phrase "Hey Cortana" among a few other options, but the original off switch is nowhere to be seen.

This doesn't mean Cortana cannot be turned off.  If you have Windows 10 Pro, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to turn off the service entirely.  Unfortunately, this policy editor is not part of Windows 10 Home, so those who are using this version of the operating system will have to adjust settings in the registry.

Here are the instructions to cut Cortana off at the knees through the registry quoted directly from ghacks.net:

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  1. Tap on the Windows-key, type regedit.exe and hit enter.
  2. Confirm the UAC prompt that is displayed.
  3. Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search
  4. If AllowCortana exists already, jump to step 7.
  5. Right-click on Windows Search and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
  6. Name it AllowCortana.
  7. Double-click on AllowCortana and set its value to 0 to disable the feature.

There is more information at the ghacks.net article.

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