How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10 using Registry

In this tutorial, we are going to see how to disable Cortana in Windows 10 using registry. Windows 10 includes a number of interesting apps, but they can sometimes be quite annoying, especially if they don’t go through simple means. Cortana, a digital voice assistant pre-installed on Windows 10, is one of those Windows apps.

One of the main reasons to disable Cortana is that it consumes a lot of RAM, which leads to poor system performance.
 

How to Disable Cortana in Windows 10 using Registry

 

 
Step 1: Open the registry editor. Press Start + R, then type regedit in the prompt, then press Enter. Click Yes if you get a warning from the User Account Control.
 

 
Step 2: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Search. If “Windows Search” does not exist, we had to create it.

Right-click on Windows folder and choose New > Key. Call it Windows Search.
 

 
 
Step 3: Right-click on Windows Search and choose New > 32-bit DWORD Value.
 

 
Step 4: Name the DWORD AllowCortana. Click on it and make sure the value is “0”.
 

 
Step 5: Restart the computer (or log out and log back in). Cortana will be replaced by a regular search bar.

It’s possible that the next Windows update will restore Cortana to its proper place in Windows 10, so be sure to keep these instructions handy, just in case.