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Microsoft Removes Features from Cortana

Microsoft revealed that they have updated the Cortana experience by removing Music, Connected Home and Third-party Skills. This change reaches Windows 10 this Spring. As usual, the update will initially land in the US region.

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Cortana is a virtual assistant bundled with Windows 10. Cortana appears as a search box or an icon on the taskbar and comes with tight integration with the Search feature in Windows 10. Signing in to Cortana with your Microsoft account allows it to keep track of what interests you, save your favorite places to its Notebook, collect notifications from other devices, and sync your data between all your devices with Cortana enabled.

Microsoft is now changing the Cortana role in Windows 10 by turning it into a productivity assistant in Microsoft 365 in future versions of Windows 10.

The upcoming update to Windows 10 will include access to a new Cortana experience with an emphasis on productivity, helping you quickly find the information you want across Microsoft 365. The new Cortana experience in Windows 10 features a chat-based UI that gives you the ability to interact with Cortana using your voice or the keyboard.

Due to this change, Cortana will remind of Google Assistant, but it will remain linked to Microsoft's exclusive products and services. It will get deeper integration with Microsoft To Do app, and will support quires as follows:

“What’s next on my calendar?”

“Remind me to send the ‘weekly report’ every Friday at 2pm.”

“Add ‘status report’ to my task list.”

Cortana will continue to help you get answers from Bing, set alarms and timers, open apps, adjust settings, or find jokes for you.

Removed features

Microsoft has changed access requirements for Cortana, so that the user must be securely logged in with his work or school account or his Microsoft account before using Cortana. Some consumer skills including music, connected home and third-party skills will no longer be available in the updated Cortana experience in Windows 10.

End of Cortana support on older Windows 10 versions and Android

Microsoft is ending support for Cortana in older versions of Windows that have reached their end-of-service dates. The company recommends that customers update their devices to the latest version of Windows 10 to continue using Cortana.

Also, Microsoft will be turning off the Cortana services in the 'Microsoft Launcher' app on Android by the end of April.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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