Windows 10: Cortana's Windows chapter ends later this year

Microsoft announced this week that it will end support for Cortana in Windows later in 2023. The terminus affects the Cortana application for Windows, which Microsoft plans to retire in "late 2023".

Windows users who have the Cortana application installed on their devices won't be able to use it anymore once Microsoft pulls it from the Microsoft Store and ends support for Cortana.

Microsoft notes that Cortana will live on in various other company applications, including in Outlook mobile as well as several Microsoft Teams application, including in Teams mobile, Microsoft Teams display and Microsoft Teams rooms.



The announcement makes it clear that Microsoft is shifting away from focusing on personal assistants, like Cortana, to AI-powered services. The company has started to integrate AI services into Windows and other company applications and plans to roll out even more in the coming months and years.

Microsoft lists four services on the support page, including Microsoft 365 Copilot and Windows Copilot.

Windows Copilot is an upcoming AI-powered feature of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system that uses AI to help Windows users when they encounter issues on the operating system. Windows users may chat with Windows Copilot similarly to how they chat with Bing Chat and other AI services on the Internet.

Microsoft 365 Copilot's aim is to improve productivity when using Microsoft 365 applications such as Office.

Microsoft unveiled Cortana in 2015 when it launched its Windows 10 operating system to the public. The personal assistant was designed to compete directly with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri.

Microsoft's decision to merge Cortana with Search was met with criticism, especially since it was difficult to block Cortana sufficiently on the operating system.

Microsoft retired the Cortana applications for iOS and Android in 2019 already, after it revealed plans to turn Cortana into a tool focused on productivity. The change its strategy surrounding the digital assistant was put in motion in 2020. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admitted even that virtual assistants were "all dumb as a rock" and that Cortana did not work out the way Microsoft hoped it would.

Closing Words

The removal of the Cortana apps for Windows is the next chapter in the slow death of the unloved personal assistant for Windows 10 and 11. It seems unlikely that it is used widely still by users of the operating system, especially since Microsoft has stopped promoting it. Some of Cortana's features may live on in other Microsoft products for the time being.

Microsoft will continue to focus on AI and the integration of AI services in all company products is already in the highest gear.

Now You: when was the last time you used Cortana? (via Neowin)

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Cortana

Hi,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community.

Appreciate your efforts to work on this issue.

This issue can occur if some of the system files are not working as expected.

Suggest you to follow the steps from this article to
troubleshoot Cortana on the PC.

Note: Do not go with the ‘Reset PC’ option for now.

Method 1: Follow these steps to disable Cortana:

1. Sign-in to the PC with your Microsoft account.
   
2. In the search box at the bottom, type Disable Cortana.
   
3. Once the suggestions appear in the list, click Cortana & Search settings.
   
4. From the right section of the Settings pane, move the top button to ‘Off’ to disable Cortana from Windows 10.
   

Method 2: Follow these steps to check if that helps.

1. Launch Cortana from the search bar on the taskbar.
   
2. Then, from the left pane click the settings button.
   
3. Under "Cortana" (the first option) and slide the pill switch to the ‘Off’ position.
   

Method 3: Launch the Settings app and click on Privacy. Navigate to Speech, inking, & typing, and click Stop getting to know me. These steps will disable Cortana.

Hope this helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed.

Regards,

Srimadhwa B

Microsoft Community-Moderator

 

Cortana Notebook

In order to enable the Notebook icon in Cortana, I suggest you to check if you have enabled Cortana.

To enable Cortana, please follow the steps below:

• Go to Cortana.
• Go to Settings.
• Turn on “Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts”.

Hope this helps.

 

windows 10 Cortana

Hi Carmentaylor,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to try to turn Cortana off and then try turning it on back and check. Refer to the steps below to turn Off and On Cortana:

• Open Cortana.
• Click the hamburger button in the top left of the window.
• Go to settings and click on off.
• Follow the same steps to turn it on.
• Check if issue persists.

Hope this information helps. Reply to the post with an updated status of the issue so that we can assist you further.

Thank you.