Windows 10: Removing Cortana permanently?

Is it true that there is no way to permanently remove Cortana in W10 home so it does not run in the background or report back to MS?

I've searched the web, taken possession of the searchui file and disabled it, but task manager shows it restarting and running in the background.

Is it safe to rename the exe file? Other solution?

Thanks.

:)

 

Cortana Reminders in Calendar (Mail) Windows 10

How to remove never-ending recurring series Cortana reminders with remove button disabled?

If not possible to remove reminders, how to remove Cortana from Calendar? It is annoying to see a never-ending recurring series reminder when I select Cortana reminders.

 

Cortana removal

Hello,

Cortana is part of operating system and can't be removed or deleted.

Regards.

 

Hello., *Smile

If you like, you could use an option in the tutorial below to disable Cortana. This will only enable or disable Cortana the personal assistant, and not the Cortana process used by Search (SearchUI.exe).

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

Thank you for replying. I will try it.

But will it stop Cortana from continuing to gather information and reporting back to MS? That's the part I really want to stop.

 

Yes.

In addition: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...a.html#option3

 

You're most welcome. *Smile

 

Thank you.
I downloaded the disable Cortana reg file and ran it. The popup said it had added it to the registry.

But, after rebooting, Taskmanager showed Cortana was still running and when I checked the registry, there was nothing new added (see attached mage).

I would be glad to add it manually if necessary, but because this is Windows 10 Home, there is no
"\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" under Policies. So I'm not sure what else needs to be added.

 

Furthermore, when I looked at the disable Cortana reg file I downloaded, I see it contains
........................................
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Created by: Shawn Brink
; Windows 10 Forums
; Tutorial: Cortana - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search]
"AllowCortana"=dword:00000000
...............................................
which does not seem correct!!!
Can you please explain?

 

When you set the "AllowCortana" DWORD to zero, it disables it.

This will only enable or disable Cortana the personal assistant, and not the Cortana process used by Search (SearchUI.exe). That's what you are seeing in Task Manager.

 

But the entry was not added to the registry. I searched for it in the registry and it is not there under Policies

 

But the entry was not added to the registry. I searched for it in the registry and it is not there under Policies
See attached image above. Nothing changed.

 

I noticed in another thread that you asked if that user had any other tweaking programs installed. I do:
Ultimate Windows Tweaker for W10
SDAnti-beakon1.5.exe

Can I add the registry change manually?

 

A couple of questions just to verify. *Smile

Are you signed in to an administrator account?

When you merged the .reg file, did you approve all prompt to allow it to merge?

Yes, you could manually add the keys and values if you like.

Since you do have tweaking programs installed, you should double check their settings to make sure none may also set this.

 

Yes, I am administrator. Unfortunately none of my tools deal with cortana.

I gave up and just renamed Searchui.exe and rebooted.
Now taskmanager no longer shows Cortana running - though briefly it showed Cortana background process running, whatever that is. Then that stopped.
The start button still searches for apps and files when entered.
So unless something breaks, renaming searchui,exe seems to be the answer.

I'll see if updates restore it.........