Cortana is the new promising feature released for Windows 10. It’s basically Microsoft’s version of Siri and Google Assistant, but it is built-in right into Windows 10. For those unfamiliar, Cortana is Microsoft’s digital assistance always at your fingertips and ready to assist you to search anything on your Windows 10 PC. This voice-activated personal assistance tells you about weather forecast, send emails, perform a search on internet and set reminders. To take benefit of it, you can use voice activation to give commands to your Windows 10 devices and perform specific actions without any physical touch.
Cortana basically sits in the little search box that appears to the right of your Start button. If you go to the search box, you will also see “setting” icon at the far left. If you go to “Setting”, you can manage the complete setting related to Cortana. You have to launch it first to use it.
Cortana Setup for Windows PC
- Go to “Start Menu” button on the left corner of your screen.
- Click “All apps”.
- Click “Cortana”.
- Click on the Cortana button. It’s the circle icon above the Windows icon.
- Choose “Use Cortana”.
- Click “Yes” if you want speech, inking, and typing customization turned on. This assists Cortana to get to know you better and can help it to complete multiple tasks. You can also opt “No thanks” if you don’t want this feature turned on.
Now Cortana is all set and ready for you to use. Just type something into the search bar, and watch it do the magic. After doing this, you can start allowing the other option mentioned. If you choose “Get Support”, Cortana will try to distinguish your microphone and then go through the Wizard to determine and ensure that mic of your system is working fine. After performing this, you can start enabling the other options mentioned. The first one is “Hey Cortana”, which permits you to say “Hey Cortana” and then begin with asking questions.
How to Pin Cortana to your Taskbar on Windows 10 PC
Even though Cortana “lives” in PC taskbar, it might not appear there by default. Don’t like to open Cortana application every time when you need it, all you have to do is pin the Cortana on the taskbar to save a little extra time.
- Right-click on the taskbar
- Click on “Cortana”.
- Click on the option you want:
Hidden: This will hide Cortana from your taskbar.
Show Cortana icon: This will show Cortana’s circle icon in the taskbar.
Show Search box: This will pin Cortana’s search bar in your taskbar.
How to Turn on Hey Cortana on Windows 10 PC
- Press the “Windows key + S” simultaneously to run Cortana.
- Click the “Notebook” button. It’s the little notebook icon below the house icon on the left side of your PC screen.
- Click on “Settings”.
- Click on “On/Off” switch below the “Hey Cortana” heading.
Now anytime you like to search the web, know the weather forecast, or set a reminder, all you have to do is say “Hey, Cortana,” and ask your question.
How to Instruct Cortana to Respond to your Voice only on Windows 10
You can instruct Cortana to respond with your voice only to secure your PC from malicious or unauthorized users. Before performing these steps, you need to ensure that you are sitting at a quiet place.
- Press the Windows key + S together to access Cortana.
- Click the Notebook button. It’s the little notebook icon below the house icon on the left side of PC screen.
- Click on “Settings”.
- Click on “Learn my voice”.
- Click on “Start”.
From here, Cortana will ask you to say six sentences out loud, so, ensure that you say those sentences loudly and clearly. Once you’re done with this, Cortana will capture your voice and respond only to your voice commands.