Stop cortana from loading??

[Windows Central Question]

I have been doing a lot of reading on this forum and have gotten some great information.. great forum.. This probably is not doable, but is there any way to stop the Cortana services from running? I don't use it nor plan to and it is a memory hog and wondering if there is anyway to prevent it from loading at all. I think I already know the answer, but doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Simple, go into Cortana, click on the hamburger menu in the upper left corner, click Notebook, then navigate to Settings. If I remember correctly, the option to turn Cortana off is right there at the top. From the Settings Menu you can also turn off other Cortana functions.

 

[bonskibon37]

I have done that part, but it still is running in the background and if deleted it just comes back. Wondering if there is a way to stop it altogether through the services setting.

 

[bonskibon37]

Upon digging a bit deeper, it appears that Cortana is integrated into the window search feature, so I guess it will have to stay running in the background even though it doesn't get used.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Yes, Cortana is very much a part of Windows 10. You can disable Cortana functions but you'll always have the basic search function powered by Cortana.