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You Can't Turn Off Cortana In the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (pcworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the things-Microsoft-does dept.

Microsoft will release Windows 10 Anniversary Update next week. Earlier this week we listed some of its best features. PCWorld is now reporting about a major change that may annoy some users: once you've installed the update, Cortana can no longer be disabled. From the article: Cortana, the personal digital assistant that replaced Windows 10's search function and taps into Bing's servers to answer your queries with contextual awareness, no longer has an off switch. The impact on you at home: Similar to how Microsoft blocked Google compatibility with Cortana, the company is now cutting off the plain vanilla search option. That actually makes a certain of amount of sense. Unless you turned off all the various cloud-connected bits of Windows 10, there's not a ton of difference between Cortana and the operating system's basic search capabilities.

2 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. As a UNIX head and former MS-hater . . . by mmell · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Y'know, Microsoft has never made any bones about their OS being a proprietary system. Whether you agree with their choices or not, you're bound by them when you use their OS. Problem is, there is a lot of appeal to their OS - nearly universal familiarity among the user base (which is large), nearly ubiquitous applications (especially in the office/business space), pre-installation (something like $50.00 a shot, as opposed to ~$175, so I guess that hurts less) . . .

    You want an OS that works your way? Tell ya what - get a bunch of your fellow technically-oriented geek friends together and make your own! (Actually, I'm sure this has been done. I think such systems are called "GNU Linux"?) Otherwise, as long as they don't outright break what they sold you, you can deal with MS's heavy-handed management of your systems. Frankly, with all the moaning about MS security and unpatched MS OS's in the wild, how did everyone expect them to respond? They're still the de facto business OS of choice and their primary customer is extremely security conscious. MS is listening to the bucks, not the users. Since their software is proprietary, that is as it should be. Unless you actively find a way to prevent it, Microsoft pretty much insists on their right to make every licensed MS OS instance reasonably uniform. That way, both security and reliability can theoretically be maximized for the entire user base.

    In short - deal with it or run something else. Just don't expect Microsoft to waste any time or money trying to do things your way unless you're big business with big bucks.

  2. Re:I Say Bullshit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    surprise, it's still running... and scanning your files... communicating with microsoft servers.. chewing up cpu time and internet bandwidth.

    the only way you'll be able to cut off cortana's access to the internet is to block it with hardware (router/firewall).

    then microsoft will get smart and funnel cortana traffic through the same ip addresses as windows update catalog files.

    it is doubtful you'll truly be able to permanently shut off the service(s) it runs under, microsoft has proven it is willing to reset user-set settings in updates time and again.

    the only way to win is to not play the game.... as in, fuck microsoft and install linux.