Windows 10: Microsoft changes its Cortana strategy, drops features

Microsoft announced plans yesterday to change the digital assistant Cortana into a tool that is focused on "productivity" and more closely aligned with the company's vision for Microsoft 365.

Cortana, which Microsoft introduced in Windows 10 when it launched the operating system back in 2015, was designed as a direct competitor to Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant.

Microsoft integrated Cortana deeply in the operating system in an effort to boost the reach and exposure of Cortana; not the first time Microsoft tried the strategy as it has a track record of making features exclusive to newer versions of Windows such as DirectX 10 exclusivity in Windows Vista or making the old Microsoft Edge browser Windows 10 exclusive.



Microsoft bundled Search and Cortana together in Windows 10 which increased the exposure of the feature significantly. It appears that Microsoft's strategy has not pushed Cortana as much as Microsoft hoped it would. The company split Cortana and Search in Windows 10 version 1903.

Microsoft plans to change Cortana into a productivity assistant in Microsoft 365 in future versions of Windows 10. Cortana is changed from a digital assistant that competes with Alexa and Google Assistant to a tool that is more closely linked to Microsoft's own services and tools.

Microsoft notes:

The upcoming update to Windows 10 will include access to a new Cortana experience with an emphasis on productivity, helping you quickly find the information you want across Microsoft 365. The new Cortana experience in Windows 10 features a chat-based UI that gives you the ability to interact with Cortana using your voice or the keyboard.
​

Most of the new features of Cortana appear to be limited to US-English versions of Windows 10. Cortana will help users in better managing tasks and schedules, and to better focus on "what matters with meeting insights".

Cortana continues to provided answers from Bing, set alarms and timers, open applications, adjust settings, and for jokes.

Some features that are currently supported by Cortana will go away, however. Microsoft mentions features such as controlling music using Cortana, connected home, and third-party skills in particular. Whether other features will go away as well remains to be seen.

Closing Words


Is the change a last attempt at establishing Cortana as a new service? It seems clear that Cortana did not meet Microsoft's expectations; this left Microsoft with options to drop Cortana entirely or try to reinvent it to give it another chance of success.

Now You: What is your take on the change? Will Cortana be there in two years?

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Change Cortana icon back to default

Hi,

I will certainly help you with the issues you are facing with Cortana.

To assist you better, kindly explain what steps you performed to change the Cortana icon?

I suggest you to follow below steps to turn off Cortana’s personalization:

• 
  Go to Cortana >
  Notebook > About Me.
  
• 
  Click to select your
  Microsoft account.
  
• 
  On the Account page, click again to select your Microsoft account.
  
• Select Sign out and restart the system, again sign in back and check.

I suggest you to install all the available Windows updates and check the issue.

Also, I suggest you to check the issue in other user accounts if you have any. If you don't have other user accounts, then I suggest you to create a new user account and check if the issue persists.

Refer to the following article on
how to create a new user account in Windows 10:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12385/windows-10-troubleshoot-problems-opening-start-menu-cortana

Please get back to us to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

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

 

Edge Search Does Not Permit Change of Region


I got these suggestions from the Microsoft Community forum.No. 1 worked for me:

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community. I am glad to assist you on this.
We have reproduce the issue here and we are able to access non-regional search for google using Microsoft Edge.
I would suggest you to try the below steps and check if it helps.
Step 1:
Clear browsing data option of Microsoft Edge and check if you face the issue. To do so perform the steps below.

1. Click on the More actions icon next to the feedback icon present on top right corner of the Project Spartan homepage.
2. Select Settings and click on Choose what to clear.
3. Check the boxes Browsing history, Cookies and saved website data and Cached data and files and click on Clear.

Step 2:
I suggest you to create a new user account and check if the issue occurs.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Choose Accounts and then select Family and other users.
3. Select add someone else on this PC.
4. Enter a user name and hit next.
5. Click on Finish.
6. Sign out from the current Account and Log into the new account.

Step 3:
It could also happen because of network issue. I suggest you to try with different network connection and check if it helps.