Cortana is present in all the systems having Windows 10. It helps the users in getting their queries resolved. But all technical things may annoy users at some point in their life. When Cortana does not work correctly, things may turn out to be disappointing.

Earlier, people used to turn off Cortana just by pushing the toggle before Windows 10 Anniversary Update. In this update, the toggle was not present.

The thing that is worth noting is that there are some other ways as well to turn off the Cortana. The most straightforward method of turning off the Cortana is switching off the voice completely. Thankfully, MS also allows its users to switch off Cortana’s capability to keep the data.

One of the most important things is that entirely turning off the Cortana is a bit tough but it is possible to do. The golden facility for Windows 10 users is that their Home Edition can turn off Cortana with the help of Registry tool.

Comparison between the users of Windows 10 and Windows 10: Pro and Enterprise- The latter has two tools for turning off the Cortana, i.e. Registry and the other is Group Policy Manager whereas the Windows 10 Pro has only one.

Ways to switch off Cortana in Windows 10

• Method of turning off Cortana for a temporary basis

There are situations when you don’t want to work on Cortana, but still, it gets activated. You can solve this problem by following given below steps. After following these steps, it will put Cortana exactly to its place and will support users to use it only when they want.

1. Firstly, press on the search bar or else put Windows+S together.
2. Then, write Cortana in the search bar.
3. Tap on Cortana and Search Settings.
4. After that, press talk to Cortana.
5. Next, switch the Hey Cortana off by the toggle
6. Lastly, switch the Keyboard shortcut off.
7. Method of turning off Cortana in Group Policy Editor for permanent basis

Follow the given below instructions for permanently turning off the Cortana in Group Policy Editor-

1. Firstly, do a right click on the Start option.
2. Then, press run or else put the combination of Windows+R together.
3. After that, write gpedit.msc and press enter.
4. Note that if by chance UAC windows get displayed, then you need to press Yes.
5. Next, require to visit the Computer Configuration.
6. Click on Administrative Templates.
7. Tap on Windows Components.
8. Next, hit on Search.
9. Here, in the pane, search for Allow Cortana and then press on OK.
10. After that, switch off the Group Policy Editor.
11. Lastly, restart your PC.

Harry Williams is a Microsoft Office expert and has been working in the technical industry since 2002. As a technical expert, Harry Williams has written technical blogs, manuals, white papers, and reviews for many websites such as office.com/setup.