If you’ve set up a Windows computer in recent months, you’ve likely met Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana.
Cortana likes to butt in during setup in order to help users throughout the process, but Microsoft used a January 3rd, 2019 blog post to announce that Cortana will soon be disabled by default “based on feedback” when users clean install Windows 10.
The change is part of the Windows 10 19H1 update which is due out in April 2019. Further, the change only affects Pro, Enterprise and Education versions of Windows 10.
Users who use the built-in Windows 10 screen reader can still enable Cortana during setup by pressing the Windows, Control and Enter keys simultaneously.
Microsoft added Cortana to Windows 10 setup last year. Initially, it seemed like a sensible addition to the setup process, allowing users to offload tasks to Cortana with their voice.
However, it seems the feature didn’t take off, with people preferring to set up their new computers without help from Cortana.
I can personally vouch for the annoyance caused by Cortana, as I often set up new computers when I review them. It’s rather frustrating when Cortana loudly greets you when you first turn on a new computer.
Microsoft announced the change as part of a blog post detailing updates and changes in the newest Windows 10 Insider Preview build.
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