Kilbane
Hagrid Look-A-Like
Hey guys,
As we are all aware, Windows 10 contains a lot of rubbish that most users want to get rid of. Now Microsoft are not fans of anything that is an "essential part" of the Windows experience being removed.
So what can we do to remove what has been touted as security concerns and bloatware?
I was originally going to write a guide to the most common tweaks to Windows 10, however, after looking at the huge list of things that can ultimately be done, I have decided to start with Cortana removal and then expand the thread based on requests.
So let's start :
So Cortana is Windows "personal assistant", it can follow simply commands by voice and help search your PC and the web for anything you are looking for. Sounds great right?
Cortana has publicly been shamed for collecting personal details and "listening in" when just sat in the background. Although all information collected is anonymous, it is still sent to MS servers to aid in targeting results and advertising to your personal preferences.
So as most people rightly so are concerned by this, there have been many people wanting to disable Cortana. Now There are two stages to removing Cortana, the MS way and the full way.
To start with, click the windows button and type "Cortana"
This is what you should see. Now select the "Cortana & Search Settings". This will bring up the following :
Now ensure all options are turned to "Off" adn then click on the option to "Manage what Cortana knows about me in the cloud".
This will then ask you to sign into your MS account linked to your Windows 10 install. Once you have done that, click on the option to forget what is known about you.
So that is what Microsoft will tell you to do, however, if you go to "Task manager" (Right click on your task bar) you will notice that "Cortana" is still running in the background.
Now on earlier builds of Windows 10, this was easy to rectify. Microsoft however have now made it impossible to disable Cortana completely using only options themselves.
This is due to the fact that Cortana is a part of the Windows Search feature, you know, that annoying little bar down in the lower left next to the "Start" button. Luckily there is a way to remove Cortana from running at all.
***IMPORTANT***
Disabling Cortana will also disable the Windows search feature, meaning that once done, the ability to quick search from the "start menu" will be removed. Only legacy search will continue to work i.e searching yousing File explorer etc.
If your happy to remove the Windows search option, which to be honest is not a great deal breaker for added privacy, just follow the steps below.
First off you will need to navigate to the folder that contains SearchUI.exe. The easiest way is to open the "Task Manager" and find the Cortana task, Right click on the Task and then select "Open File Location". This should show the Folder located at :
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana.........
Now before proceeding any further you will be required to "Take Ownership" of the Folder and all files contained within.
To do this you can use the built in Windows cmd line option :
takeown [/s <Computer> [/u [<Domain>\]<User name> [/p [<Password>]]]] /f <File name> [/a] [/r [/d {Y|N}]]
Now if you want to do it that way, feel free. However there has been a small registry hack that has been around for a few years that can add "Take Ownership" to the Right click context menu. This can be found Here.
So once you have taken ownership of the folder, browse that folder and locate "SearchUI.exe" and rename it to something simple such as "SearchUIOFF.exe".
Now that is done, stop the Cortana task ...... And you are done.
As many people have pointed out, this method is the only true way to stop Cortana, but does have its drawbacks. You will still need to periodically check that Cortana has not restarted itself after any Windows repairs and updates.
Talking of Updates, I will add how to stop auto updates soon. As many people have had issues with Windows randomly updating Drivers which can often break your PC.
Any requests on how to tweak certain aspects are more than welcome guys.
As we are all aware, Windows 10 contains a lot of rubbish that most users want to get rid of. Now Microsoft are not fans of anything that is an "essential part" of the Windows experience being removed.
So what can we do to remove what has been touted as security concerns and bloatware?
I was originally going to write a guide to the most common tweaks to Windows 10, however, after looking at the huge list of things that can ultimately be done, I have decided to start with Cortana removal and then expand the thread based on requests.
So let's start :
CORTANA REMOVAL :
So Cortana is Windows "personal assistant", it can follow simply commands by voice and help search your PC and the web for anything you are looking for. Sounds great right?
Cortana has publicly been shamed for collecting personal details and "listening in" when just sat in the background. Although all information collected is anonymous, it is still sent to MS servers to aid in targeting results and advertising to your personal preferences.
So as most people rightly so are concerned by this, there have been many people wanting to disable Cortana. Now There are two stages to removing Cortana, the MS way and the full way.
To start with, click the windows button and type "Cortana"
This is what you should see. Now select the "Cortana & Search Settings". This will bring up the following :
Now ensure all options are turned to "Off" adn then click on the option to "Manage what Cortana knows about me in the cloud".
This will then ask you to sign into your MS account linked to your Windows 10 install. Once you have done that, click on the option to forget what is known about you.
So that is what Microsoft will tell you to do, however, if you go to "Task manager" (Right click on your task bar) you will notice that "Cortana" is still running in the background.
Now on earlier builds of Windows 10, this was easy to rectify. Microsoft however have now made it impossible to disable Cortana completely using only options themselves.
This is due to the fact that Cortana is a part of the Windows Search feature, you know, that annoying little bar down in the lower left next to the "Start" button. Luckily there is a way to remove Cortana from running at all.
***IMPORTANT***
Disabling Cortana will also disable the Windows search feature, meaning that once done, the ability to quick search from the "start menu" will be removed. Only legacy search will continue to work i.e searching yousing File explorer etc.
If your happy to remove the Windows search option, which to be honest is not a great deal breaker for added privacy, just follow the steps below.
First off you will need to navigate to the folder that contains SearchUI.exe. The easiest way is to open the "Task Manager" and find the Cortana task, Right click on the Task and then select "Open File Location". This should show the Folder located at :
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana.........
Now before proceeding any further you will be required to "Take Ownership" of the Folder and all files contained within.
To do this you can use the built in Windows cmd line option :
takeown [/s <Computer> [/u [<Domain>\]<User name> [/p [<Password>]]]] /f <File name> [/a] [/r [/d {Y|N}]]
Now if you want to do it that way, feel free. However there has been a small registry hack that has been around for a few years that can add "Take Ownership" to the Right click context menu. This can be found Here.
So once you have taken ownership of the folder, browse that folder and locate "SearchUI.exe" and rename it to something simple such as "SearchUIOFF.exe".
Now that is done, stop the Cortana task ...... And you are done.
As many people have pointed out, this method is the only true way to stop Cortana, but does have its drawbacks. You will still need to periodically check that Cortana has not restarted itself after any Windows repairs and updates.
Talking of Updates, I will add how to stop auto updates soon. As many people have had issues with Windows randomly updating Drivers which can often break your PC.
Any requests on how to tweak certain aspects are more than welcome guys.
