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How to Hide, Disable or Uninstall Cortana in Windows 10

January 4th, 2016 by Admin

Just like Apple’s Siri, Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistant integrated in Windows 10. Cortana is capable of composing emails, setting reminders, finding apps & files on your computer and performing web searches. After installing or upgrading to Windows 10, you’ll find that Cortana appears as a search bar in the taskbar that says “Ask me anything”.

cortana

But not all Windows 10 users will take kindly to Cortana. In this article we’ll show you how to hide, disable Cortana or even completely uninstall it in Windows 10.

Update: If you’re running Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, Cortana could be uninstalled or reinstalled with the new method.

Part 1: Hide Cortana

In Windows 10, Cortana is shown as a search box in the taskbar, right beside the Start button. If you want to hide Cortana, right-click on search box/icon in the taskbar, select Cortana and then Hidden.

hide-cortana

Cortana will now remain inactive and immediately disappear from the taskbar.

Part 2: Disable Cortana

Here’s how to disable Cortana in Windows 10:

  1. Click on the search box/icon on the taskbar to open Cortana.
  2. Click on the Notebook button in the left-hand menu. From there, click Settings.

    settings

  3. In Settings, the first option “Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders alerts and more” is a simple slide bar. Slide it to off to disable Cortana. Once disabled, Cortana will revert to the traditional Windows search feature.

    disable-cortana

  4. To clear everything Cortana knows about you, click the link “Manage what Cortana knows about me in the cloud“.
  5. Microsoft Edge should open and take you to the Bing Settings page. Click the Clear buttons in the “Clear personal info” and “Other Cortana data and personalized speech, inking and typing” sections.

    clear-cortana-data

    This will clear your personal info from Microsoft’s cloud servers.

Part 3: Uninstall Cortana

In Windows 10, there is no option to uninstall Cortana. If you want to completely uninstall / remove Cortana from Windows 10, you can use the uninstall script provided by WinAero. Here’s how:

  1. Download the Uninstall Cortana ZIP file (provided by WinAero).
  2. Extract all files from the ZIP archive you downloaded to your desktop.
  3. Right-click the Uninstall Cortana.cmd file and select Run as Administrator.

    uninstall-cortana

  4. It will begin uninstalling Cortana.

    remove-cortana-package

    When it’s done, restart your computer. Cortana will no longer work, respond, or collect information. After uninstalling, it’s good to hide the Cortana button/icon to reclaim wasted space on your taskbar.

2 Options to Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder After Windows 10 Update

December 25th, 2015 by Admin

There is a folder named $WINDOWS.~BT on the root of my C:\ drive. It is a hidden folder and is 2 GB in size. What is its purpose? Is it safe to delete it?

The $WINDOWS.~BT folder is a temporary folder created by Windows Update, which contains update logs and files downloaded by the Windows update process. By default, the $WINDOWS.~BT folder is hidden. It exists at the root of your system drive. To see it, enable viewing hidden folders in Windows 10.

$windows-bt

The $WINDOWS.~BT folder can be safely deleted. However, you can’t delete that folder the normal way. In this article we’ll show you 2 ways to delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder to reclaim your hard disk space.

Option 1: Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder Using TakeOwnershipPro

  1. Download and install the freeware TakeOwnershipPro on your computer. After installing, it will add the take ownership shortcut to right-click context menu.
  2. Browse to the root path of your system drive. Right-click on the $WINDOWS.~BT folder and select TakeOwnershipPro. This will grant you full permissions to access the $WINDOWS.~BT folder.

    take-ownership

  3. Now you can delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder the normal way.

Option 2: Delete $WINDOWS.~BT Folder Using Disk Cleanup

  1. To clean the $WINDOWS.~BT Folder folder, open This PC, right-click your local C: drive and then select Properties from the context menu.

    disk-properties

  2. Click on Disk Cleanup.

    disk-cleanup

  3. Next click on Clean up system files. It will perform a scan of your computer’s hard drives to determine what files can be cleaned up and how much storage space they use.

    clean-up-system-files

  4. When it is finished scanning the Disk Cleanup program will open again, but this time with some extra options that you can select as shown in the image below. To delete the $WINDOWS.~BT folder you have to check the option labeled “Temporary Windows installation files” or “Previous Windows installation(s)“.

    windows-install-temp-files

  5. Click OK and the Disk Cleanup wizard will clean out everything in the $Windows.~BT folder. If there is a lot of data to delete, please be patient while they are removed from your hard drive.

2 Options to Change / Customize Date & Time Format in Windows 10

December 18th, 2015 by Admin

Have you inherited a computer with the date in the wrong format? How can I change the date & time format displayed in Windows 10 taskbar? Depending on your personal needs, you may wish that Windows displays the full date instead of the short date format. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 methods to change date & time format in Windows 10, customize the format to match your specific needs.

Method 1: Change Date and Time Format Through PC Settings

  1. To get started, right-click the bottom-right corner of the screen where the time and date are displayed in the system tray. After that select Adjust date/time.
  2. adjust-date-time

  3. It will open the PC Settings charm that displays the pre-defined date/time formats.

    change-data-time-formats

    Click the drop-down button and select the date/time format you want. If your format is not included in the drop-down list, you have to use the method below to customize the date/time format through Control Panel.

Method 2: Change Date and Time Format Through Control Panel

  1. Press the Windows key + X and you’ll be presented within the Quick Access window. Click Control Panel.
  2. When the Control Panel opens, set the View by option to Large icon. Click Date and Time.

    control-panel

  3. The Date and Time box should open. Click on the “Change date and time…” button.

    date-and-time

  4. After the Date and Time settings window opens, click on the “Change calendar settings” link.

    date-and-time-settings

  5. Now you can see the pre-defined date formats. Click the drop-down button and check whether the format you wish to change is available or not. If it is not included in the drop down list, you can customize the format by entering required date format (for example, DD-MM-YYYY). Make sure that you are entering in a right format with proper notations. You can find the meaning of notations below the date format. Click on Apply and save your settings.

    customize-format

  6. Now you can see the date/time on your taskbar at the bottom-right corner in your own desired format.