Cortana forced on latest Windows 10 update

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Microsoft pushed another update on my desktop, which now lags like hell. Cortana has reactivated itself, despite the fact I have no mic to even use it (which even if I did it would still suck probably worse than even S-Voice). There doesn't even appear to be an option to disable the annoying thing either. Cortana is like a resurrected version of Clippy from Windows XP, just as annoying, only now she doesn't have an option to disable her. Windows also reinstated the useless lockscreen that I had disabled, because we all need a useless lockscreen on a f*****g desktop computer.

This further reinforces my conviction that abandoning Windows and switching to Linux was the right thing to do. Windows 10 is little better than spyware.

Would it be against the rules to say Microsoft is Nazis?

To be safe I'll say that they aren't but I don't think much higher of them.

I am going to install Windows 7 in Qemu cause Windows 10 runs like crap in Qemu I have decided.

Can you REGEDIT Cortana out?

As far as I can tell, Cortana is like some alien life form that is in a fully symbiotic relationship with the Firewall service. Turn off the Firewall service and you lose Cortana...and the start menu. And Edge (no big loss IMO). And some virus / malware protection. And a whole lot of other functionality. It's all part of Microsoft's new world order of trying to saturate your connection pipe with encrypted information about *You* being sent back to Redmond, Washington. Kill the alien life form and you kill the host. Best you can do is limit Cortana's ability to know what's going on. All those menus and pages that allow you turn off various network based functionality? Turn them all off. And for goodness' sake don't use Edge.

But if you are stubborn:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\AllowCortana
Set to 0 (zero). If the key doesn't exist, create it as a DWORD (32-bit)

or if on a domain edit the group policy:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow Cortana
Set to disabled.

you can also rename the folder that contains cortana and that'll kill it's process entirely. If you copy the folder name into a text file and save it as a backup, you can re-name the folder again to bring it back. To rename the folder you have to be sneaky though...you have to kill the process and then change the name before it restarts. There's a youtube video that explains it better, lol.

I recently got a new computer with windows 10 and the first few things I did was get rid of the bloatware, circumvent the auto updates, install firefox, disabled cortana as well as a bunch of other stuff (internet explorer, telemetry, a bunch of visual effects, etc) and installed classic start menu. The Classic Start Menu is nice because it retains the old search.

I'm uh...kinda OCD when it comes to how I like my computer setup. Not the most tech savvy, but my Google-fu skills are stubborndary!

Tested & confirmed. You do lose the ability to Search on your system, so you might as well turn off indexing too. There are alternative utils for local searches that IMO are far more effective anyway.

However, I've also heard through the grapevine that MS is on to that an may ensure that such "damage" to the OS (missing system folder) is "fixed" in periodic updates. That's why I prefer the REG or group policy route as they are aimed at providing corporate customers with control they deem deal-breakers if excluded. That said, if they replace the folder, it is easy enough to re-delete it. So long as they don't create a watchdog process to restore it any time it goes missing...you know, so the OS is more "self healing" for Grandma so her friend Cortana is always there. < / sarcasm >.

other misc info:

Cortana = SearchUI.exe

On my system, it's currently located in C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_string\ where "string" is a semi-random character string. That is the "cortana" folder that needs to be renamed, but I would assume just renaming SearchUI.exe would also be sufficient. Other, inactive copies of SearchUI.exe exist in C:\windows\WinSxS subfolders.

I did the regedit thing first, but noticed the process was still running and that bugged me so I found the folder thing and yeah; no more Apex. I think the search that comes built in with Classic Shell can use the search indexer, but don't quote me on that.

Don't get me started on the way updates are handled; manually checking for updates and choosing what to install I like. Forced updates not so much. I have the Windows Update service set to disabled and have my connection set to "metered connection" as even if the update service were to re-enable, it won't download them. You don't technically have to disable the service, but I certainly feel better doing so!
http://www.howtogeek.com/226722/how-when-and-why-to-set-a-connection-as-metered-on-windows-10/

...Unrelated (semi-related?) but fwiw this is why I like classic shell lol.