Windows 10: Cortana is set for a huge upgrade on Windows 10

Windows 10 May 2020 Update updates Windows Search experience, improves the overall experience and it also brings more changes to Cortana. With last year’s update, Microsoft added a new search box in Windows 10 and Cortana is now being moved to a separate app updated from the Microsoft Store.

In Windows 10 version 2004, Cortana is getting a new look, improved chat-based experience, and Microsoft plans to offer it in more regions outside the United States.

Cortana is also getting a new focus—productivity and it’s not exactly good news if you enjoyed using Cortana’s music integration and other consumer-friendly features. Cortana still supports lists, reminders, emails, calendars, and you can also launch apps with both texts and your voice.

According to Microsoft, new Cortana offers support for continuous conversations and deep integration with Microsoft 365 services.

Microsoft will offer Cortana in the US, UK, Canada, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain. You can use Cortana in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. For these regions, Microsoft will also offer Bing Answers and Assistant Conversations.



Windows 10 May 2020 Update has undocked Cortana from the taskbar, allowing you to move and resize it like other apps.

Microsoft has decided to temporarily remove some skills and casual conversation from Cortana, but you’ll able to ask her jokes, view Bing answers and check the weather.

It’s worth noting that the company hasn’t given up on consumer-focused features entirely and some features might return back in the near future.

Microsoft is also planning to introduce support for Surface Headphones, Alexa Echo, and Invoke in a future update, which will be released via Windows Store.

Microsoft promises that it will update Cortana app regularly via the Windows Store and the digital assistant will naturally blend into user workflows.

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Windows 10 upgrade problem, no input accepted

I really hate having to come here and ask for help, but I really am stumped. It hurts my geek pride. I have a PC with fairly modern hardware in it. It has a p8p67 pro in it. I have tried upgrading windows 10 on it twice now. Both times I have had the same result.

After windows finishes upgrading it goes to the log in/set up screen. I can't do anything. No keyboard or mouse input is accepted.

I will list some, or hopefully all, of the troubleshooting steps I have tried:

• Move keyboard and mouse to different USB ports.
• Try different keyboard or mouse.
• Restart computer, repeatedly.
• Google for related issues.
• Update Bios, because why not.
• Create boot media and revert to windows 7.

The windows 10 system restore boot media works fine with keyboard and mouse. All USB ports work in windows 7. I don't know what is wrong. I suspect that windows 10 is lacking a driver of some sort, but since the computer accepts no input I have no way of checking for which driver let alone installing it.

Please help me figure this out. If I have to revert back to windows 7 again, I am not going to get it upgraded to windows 10. Thank you in advanced.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

As you may already know, Windows 10 (as well as Windows 8) allow you to log in with a valid Microsoft account, instead of creating a local account that only works on your machine. However, you may prefer to keep a local account for privacy reasons. If you do, though, some Windows 10 features—like Cortana—may not work. Despite the default behavior, the Windows 10 Store is not one of them. You can still log in to your Microsoft account for just the Store without switching to a full Microsoft account. The process, however, is not terribly obvious. To do so, follow these steps:

• Launch the Store from your Start menu.
• Click the user icon next to the search box.
• Click “Sign-in” from the menu that appears.
• Choose “Microsoft account” and log in like normal.
• When the “Make it yours” box appears do not enter your password. Instead, click “Sign in to just this app instead.”

from Lifehacker

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Privacy tweaks...

• Turn Cortana Off. Bring up the Start menu and start typing. Click on the notebook icon in the left sidebar and choose Settings. From there, you can turn off Cortana.
• Search online and include web results. When you turn off Cortana, you’ll see this option appear. You can turn it off if you’d rather not get web search suggestions from the Start menu, which log your typing and send it back to Microsoft so you can get live-updating predictions, just like you do on Google.com or in Chrome and Firefox.
• Getting to Know You. In Settings > Privacy > Speech, Inking, & Typing, you’ll find a feature called “Getting to Know You”. This is probably the most sweeping privacy setting on the system, and even after turning off Cortana, you’ll have to disable this setting. Just click the “Stop Getting to Know Me” button to turn it off.
• Cloud Info. Turning off Getting to Know You removes info from your device, but you’ll have to remove it from the cloud separately. In that same window, click “Go to Bing and manage personal info for all your devices” to clear the Getting to Know You Data from your Microsoft account.

• If you head to Settings > Privacy > Feedback & Diagnostics, you’ll see two settings:

• Feedback frequency: Windows will occasionally ask you for feedback so you can send Microsoft your thoughts on Windows 10. If you’d rather it not bug you with such things, you can change it to Never.
• Diagnostic and usage data: This feature can send a lot of data back to Microsoft, including how often you use certain apps, which apps you use most often, and memory snapshots (which can inadvertently include parts of a document you’re working on if something crashes). You can change this to Full, Enhanced, or Basic. You can read more about what each of these to here.

Microsoft doesn’t let you turn off diagnostics completely, except on Enterprise versions of Windows. The Basic setting, they say, is data that is “vital to the operation of Windows”, including Windows Update and malicious software protection.


some may be duplicated. I found this info on Lifehacker, if anyone wants the full article.