Hey, Cortana... What do you do?

If you've recently upgraded to Windows 10, you may have noticed this new application called Cortana sitting in your windows tile-screen or popping up when you search for things. So what is this Coratana thing? I'm glad you asked! Cortana is your very own assistant, and a cleaver one at that. According to Microsoft, she can create reminders for you, tell jokes, let you know the weather, search through your computer or the web, keep an eye on traffic, and much more. To get her going, all you have to do is type something in the search bar or simply say "Hey, Cortana" and what you want her to*. In order to set her up, there are a few easy steps you can follow.

*Note: this only works if your computer has a microphone built in or attached. 

Enabling Cortana

To start with, click in the search box in the bottom left part of your screen, that will bring up a black window. In the lower corner there is a circle icon, that is Cortana's icon. Click on that.

Click the get started button and, if you agree, accept the terms and conditions. After that, you will have the opportunities to get your creative juices going and come up with a name or nickname that Cortana will call you.

At this point, you'll have to either set up a Microsoft account or log in to an existing account in order to proceed further. It will then ask you to enter a password and to set up a pin. I skipped the pin step because it can make it tricky to do some administration actions on your computer if you forget the original password after using the pin so much.

Once all that is out of the way you can begin exploring all the features Cortana has to offer.

Disabling Cortana

If you read the terms and conditions, you may have noticed a downside of Cortana - she can be rather intrusive in how much data she gathers. In order to work as she does, she gathers information on who you talk to, what you search for, where you are, and a host of other data. If you've already enabled Cortana but you are worried about the privacy risks associated with using her, here are the steps you can take to disable her.

First click on "Search Windows" in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. Next you'll want to navigate to the settings option, which can be found by clicking on the notebook option (third icon from the top) and selecting settings.
















After that all you need to do is click on the first slide bar, switching it to off. Voila, no more Cortana.

















Happy computing!