Windows 10 Privacy Tutorial: Learn How to Disable Cortana
To function properly, Cortana collects an enormous amount of personal, identifiable data, as stated by Microsoft in its Cortana, Search, and Privacy FAQ:
“When you use Cortana, Microsoft collects and uses information including your device location information and location history, contacts (People), voice input, searching history, calendar details, content and communication history from messages and apps, and other information on your device. In Microsoft Edge, Cortana collects and uses your browsing history.”
“And other information” is particularly disturbing, because it could pertain to anything, and at the very least adds “speech and handwriting patterns, and typing history” to the data collected, as stated in the Getting to Know You section of Windows 10 privacy settings. It should be noted, however, that recording this data (however it’s limited or not) is not restricted to only Cortana, because in the same section, Microsoft states Windows itself also records such information.
There are two methods of disabling Cortana. Disabling the Getting to Know You option turns off Cortana and stops collecting associated data in Cortana and Windows itself, which also means dictation will cease to function. If, however, you just want to stop collecting data in Cortana, you can disable only Cortana in the Cortana search pop-up.
Disabling “Getting to Know You”
1. Click the Start menu and select Settings.
2. Select Privacy.
3. Open the Speech, Inking, & Typing tab and click Stop Getting to Know Me.
4. Click Turn Off to disable associated data collection in Cortana and Windows.
Disabling Only Cortana
1. Click the search box, select the Notebook icon and choose Settings.
2. Click the On slider under the “Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts and more” section.
Once disabled, the slider should be grayed out and labeled Off:
References
This post is part of the series: Disabling & Removing Data from Windows 10 Cortana
If you’re concerned about privacy, this tutorial is for you.
