Every time you use "Cortana", smack yourself on the side of the head because it's an admission of surrender (IMHO)

Every time you use "Cortana", smack yourself on the side of the head
because it's an admission of surrender (IMHO)

THIS IS PHILOSOPHICAL - not necessary factual!

I was just writing up advice for someone who wanted to run the command
prompt as admin from the taskbar, where, whether or not I helped that guy,
I realized what my philosophy is on "Cortana" because I told him NOT to use
Cortana to find the command prompt as admin.

Why?

Your philosophy may differ, where I grew up before home computers existed
so my philosophy on finding things on my computer was honed well before
software was designed for "brain dead" users, like Cortana seems to be.

I realized, when I wrote the advice on how to bring up the command prompt,
that, any time I use Cortana, it's an admission that I'm brain dead.

Luckily, I don't think I've used Cortana more than once a month in the past
year (if that) where almost always, it was to bring up an obscure Microsoft
applet of some sort that I didn't have a ready-made "app paths" key to (I
have scores of custom App Paths keys).

Alas, the last time I tried to _remove_ Cortana, it bricked my system, so,
Cortana is here to stay - but - at least I can't remember the last time I
was forced to surrender and use it.

My point?
It's philosophical.

Every time you use Cortana, slap yourself on the side of your head, as it's
an admission, IMHO, of surrender.

You may certainly think otherwise - but I hope I've explained my point of
view as my philosophy is that I know where (almost) everything is on my
system that I need to use because I know where I put things (because I put
them where they belong - which is the same in essence on every system I use
even back to WinXP days).

On 10/24/2018 8:04 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:

the last time I tried to _remove_ Cortana, it bricked my system, so,
Cortana is here to stay...

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO Cortana
and NO problems. Give it a try...

1)HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\Windows Search.

2)If no “Windows Search� key (folder) below the Windows folder,
right-click the Windows folder and select New Key. Name it “Windows
Search�.

3)Right-click the “Windows Search� key (folder) in the left pane and
select New DWORD (32-bit) Value.

4)Name the value “AllowCortana�. Double-click it and set the value to “0�.

5)Close the registry editor and restart. Easy peasy...

(To undo your change AllowCortana� = 1)

On Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:40:05 -0700, 123456789 wrote:

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO Cortana
and NO problems. Give it a try...

1)HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\Windows Search.

It would be nice to get rid of Cortana so that it never even runs
accidentally!

Here's what I have on Windows 10 (version 1803) out of the box:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=5264873nocortana01.jpg

2)If no ´Windows Search¡ key (folder) below the Windows folder,
right-click the Windows folder and select New Key. Name it "Windows
Search".

3)Right-click the "Windows Search" key (folder) in the left pane and
select New DWORD (32-bit) Value.

4)Name the value "AllowCortana". Double-click it and set the value to "0".

OK. That's been added:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=6549300nocortana02.jpg


5)Close the registry editor and restart. Easy peasy...

(To undo your change "AllowCortana" = "1")

Let's hope it works. I'll reboot after I send this, just in case.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 03:50:42 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

Let's hope it works. I'll reboot after I send this, just in case.

Bummer.}
Just like every other "supposed" Cortana-removal trick,
it doesn't seem to have done anything that I can tell it did.

Cortana is still there, alive and kicking, after a reboot.

I rarely give up, but, I already spent _days_ trying to get rid of Cortana,
where _everything_ that is published, is just dead wrong.

Paul knows about it all.
If it did work at one time, it no longer works now.
At least, it didn't work for me.

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 03:50:42 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

Cortana is still there, alive and kicking, after a reboot.

Everyone needs a hobby :-)

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/10/18/wi...e-native-apps/

Windows 10 version 1809 can remove

Microsoft Solitaire Collection,
My Office,
OneNote,
Print 3D,
Skype,
Tips,
Weather

Windows 10 version 1903... will be able to remove

3D Viewer,
Calculator,
Calendar,
Groove Music,
Mail,
Movies & TV,
Paint 3D,
Snip & Sketch (added in 1809!),
Sticky Notes,
Voice Recorder.

Cortana ? Still there.

Paul

On 10/24/2018 10:39 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:

Cortana is still there, alive and kicking, after a reboot.

Dunno what to tell you. As I said I have done the "No Cortana" registry
mod (exactly as posted here) on two W10 devices and it worked as
advertised. One is a new Lenovo laptop with 1809 17763.55 and the other
is an Acer keyboard/tablet with 1803 17134.345.

After Cortana was gone I got more room on the taskbar by hiding the
search box: Right click taskbar search check hidden. (Search is
still easily available by right clicking the Start button search.)

On 10/24/18 11:40 PM, 123456789 wrote:
On 10/24/2018 8:04 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:

the last time I tried to _remove_ Cortana, it bricked my system, so,
Cortana is here to stay...

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO Cortana
and NO problems. Give it a try...

1)HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\W indows\Windows Search.

2)If no “Windows Search� key (folder) below the Windows folder,
right-click the Windows folder and select New Key. Name it “Windows
Search�.

3)Right-click the “Windows Search� key (folder) in the left pane and
select New DWORD (32-bit) Value.

4)Name the value “AllowCortana�. Double-click it and set the value to “0�.

5)Close the registry editor and restart. Easy peasy...

(To undo your change AllowCortana� = 1)

Why don't you export that Windows Search folder in regedit to a .reg
file and then post the text in the .reg file.
Wouldn't that be easier than trying to tell people what to do?

On 10/24/2018 11:31 PM, Big Al wrote:
On 10/24/18 11:40 PM, 123456789 wrote:

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO
Cortana and NO problems.

Why don't you export that Windows Search folder in regedit to a .reg
file and then post the text in the .reg file. Wouldn't that be
easier than trying to tell people what to do?

There was no telling to it. It was a cut, paste, and edit from an
existing archived text file. Took maybe a minute tops. Couldn't have
been easier for me. YMMV.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 02:15:46 -0400, Paul wrote:

Windows 10 version 1809 can remove

Hi Paul,

I want to _thank_ you for that find, since I have _tried_ and failed (in
the end) to remove many of the "default" programs (dozens, maybe even
scores) that I don't need, don't want, and will never use.

But most of those damn things (for the most part), keep coming back!

So it's nice to have a _definitive_ list, of what's _worth_ removing since
it does nobody any good to only _think_ it's removed, but then it comes
back with a vengeance, like Spanish Broom!

On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 02:31:46 -0400, Big Al wrote:

Why don't you export that Windows Search folder in regedit to a .reg
file and then post the text in the .reg file.
Wouldn't that be easier than trying to tell people what to do?

Since every post should add value to our combined tribal knowledge,
here is that exported registry file from my setup (but bear in mind that I
still got a Bing browser set to "https://www.bing.com/search?q=foo" when I
Cortana searched for "foo".

===== cut here for the start of windowssearch.reg.txt =====
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Win dows\Windows Search]
"AllowCortana"=dword:00000000

===== cut here for the end of windowssearch.reg.txt =====

On Wed, 24 Oct 2018 23:18:46 -0700, 123456789 wrote:

Dunno what to tell you. As I said I have done the "No Cortana" registry
mod (exactly as posted here) on two W10 devices and it worked as
advertised. One is a new Lenovo laptop with 1809 17763.55 and the other
is an Acer keyboard/tablet with 1803 17134.345.

I guess a lot depends on what our definition of "Cortana" is.
I admit that I hate it, so, I define "it" as "existing" (not just hidden).

By "it", what I mean is if I hit the "magnifying glass" "search icon",
and then type "foobar", and then hit the return key, what currently comes
up is Edge set to "https://www.bing.com/search?q=foo" plus a whole bunch of
presumably identifying information (and I mean a whole bunch).

Is _that_ what you define Cortana as?

After Cortana was gone I got more room on the taskbar by hiding the
search box: Right click taskbar search check hidden. (Search is
still easily available by right clicking the Start button search.)

This is actually nice, since I never use Cortana, by design, and since I
like as much room on my taskbar as possible, particularly since it's on the
left side.

Thanks for that tip! It will go into my list of 200 things to do when
setting up a new Windows system!

On Wed, 24 Oct 2018 23:46:45 -0700, 123456789 wrote:

There was no telling to it. It was a cut, paste, and edit from an
existing archived text file. Took maybe a minute tops. Couldn't have
been easier for me. YMMV.

I appreciate the hint, where I could quite easily tell (from the curly
quotes that I had to change back to regular quotes in my vim text editor),
that you had almost certainly cut and pasted it from a web page (or from a
"fancy" editor - but most likely from a web page).

Having much experience - I _knew_, most likely, it wouldn't work.
But if it worked, you would have been my hero.

So it was with anticipation that I tried it on 1803.
It failed to do anything (if my definition of "cortana" is the same as
yours).

I do appreciate the advice though, as I am sure you meant well.

But Paul and I have been through this remove-cortana stuff in gory detail
in the past where _every_ published method fails (and where "Wolf K offered
his cringe-worthy genius by repeatedly admonishing us to "search google",
which is hilarious, if you've never tried to remove Cortana).

While I'd _love_ to remove Cortana, I've concluded that removing Cortana
isn't as easy as it might seem, as I haven't seen anyone actually be
successful in a way that I can reproduce.

I'm not sure why they _think_ they're removing Cortana though, so, it could
be as simple as one of these three things:
o They are on a different OS subversion than mine (17134.345 currently)
o They have some _other_ magic set that I don't have set (or not set)
o They have a different _definition_ of what "remove Cortana" means

To me, "Cortana" is anything that "phones home" when I "search" with the
magnifying glass next to the Windows start icon. Specifically, when I
search for "foo", up pops Edge (yes, I know you can change the browser)
which then inserts a loooooooong URL of the format:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=foo&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=1234567890abcd ef1234567890abcdef&pq=foo&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF&ts=12345 67890123
Where those are the actual lengths and formats of the results for a simple
search of "foo".

As an aside, it would be nice if someone knows, offhand, what those numbers
indicate, as I'm sure it's documented somewhere, and where I'm only
curious, but not curious enough to look for myself (so if you don't know
the answer offhand, don't bother pulling a Wolf K on us).

Since I never use Cortana unless I have a gun pointed at my head, I was
surprised that it brought up Edge, as I had _thought_ I had redirected
accidental Cortana searches to bring up a proxy-based browser instead
(which at least moves you one step away from your IP in the Microsoft
databases that are presumably collecting your search information).

This hint is fantastic, by the way, for making the *default* browser a
proxy browser, where, for example, when a rogue installer "phones home" at
the end of the installation process, it pops up a form asking which browser
to use, which you can kill - so the phoning home never happens.

In reality, I'm not sure I understand Windows defaults well enough to
explain why, but _half_ the time, those rogue installers actually pop up
the default proxy browser (which serves no other purpose except to
intercept URLs that I never typed), and the other half the time, Microsoft
Windows pops up a "which browser do you want to use).

Either way, I'm one IP removed from the phoning home (which I can also
avert with a network kill switch (called "killgw.bat, or, in longer terms,
kill-gateway.bat"), which I use when I _know_ it will phone home).

My short response?
o I knew it was pasted from a web page so I didn't think it would work.
o It didn't work but maybe I define "cortana" differently than others do?
o I had thought I had Cortana redirected to a proxy browser - but
apparently that reverted back to Edge at some point unbeknownst to me.

Sigh. Paul will understand my frustration.
I've pretty much given up trying to get rid of what I call Cortana.

On 10/25/2018 8:39 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:

I guess a lot depends on what our definition of "Cortana" is. I admit
that I hate it, so, I define "it" as "existing" (not just hidden).

CLEARLY the registry mod I posted HIDES Cortana. The bottom line of my
post said: "To undo your change AllowCortana = 1". If you can UNDO the
change then clearly Cortana is HIDDEN and not REMOVED. ANYONE can see that.

Having much experience - I _knew_, most likely, it wouldn't work.

Much experience?? Anyone with even a little experience could tell at a
glance at that post that the registry mod did not remove Cortana and
only turned her off.

So it was with anticipation that I tried it on 1803.

So given your extensive experience I'm surprised that you thought
the mod would actually murder Cortana and wasted your time trying it.

I do appreciate the advice though, as I am sure you meant well.

No good deed goes unpunished...

On Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:40:05 -0700, 123456789 wrote:

On 10/24/2018 8:04 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:

the last time I tried to _remove_ Cortana, it bricked my system, so,
Cortana is here to stay...

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO Cortana
and NO problems. Give it a try...



I was thinking of giving it a try, but I decided I didn't mind
Cortana being there. So cello it's still there.

On 10/25/2018 9:44 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:40:05 -0700, 123456789
wrote:

I made a few registry changes to my W10 devices and viola: NO
Cortana

I was thinking of giving it a try, but I decided I didn't mind
Cortana being there.

I'm not sure why I dislike talking to devices. I think it may be a
mental thing. The grandkids have Alexa at their house. They tell her to
fart and she does...