Activate, configure and deactivate Cortana: all commands

As the years go by, little by little the technology that surrounds voice assistants, does not stop improving. This is the case of the one that we find in Windows 10 itself, we refer to Cortana, but it is not the only one that exists in this sector. With everything and with this, we are going to see some of the most important Cortana voice commands that will allow us to interact with said assistant.

From our mobile devices and for a long time, we have the possibility of using the voice assistants integrated by both Apple and Google. These arrive to us already installed in their corresponding terminals so that we can handle these with greater ease. In addition, they allow us to access all kinds of information, all by voice. That is why Microsoft has not wanted to be less in the most used desktop PC system such as Windows 10.

Activate, configure and deactivate Cortana

And we must bear in mind that there are more and more voice assistants that we can use on all types of devices. We can use a mobile phone , a PC, or even independent smart speakers, in addition to controlling a multitude of products related to home automation.

Launch and activate Cortana to use your voice

It is true that perhaps the assistant in which we are going to focus on these same lines, Cortana, has not had the same acceptance as those we use on mobile phones . However, this is one of Microsoft’s big bets in this sense, so it continues to work to improve its assistant. In this way, it hopes that its hundreds of millions of users will finally choose to use it in Windows 10.

Of course, the first thing we should know is that it is integrated by default in the Redmond system. Therefore, we can activate it or not, like the rest of the software functions.

See the button on the Taskbar

In the event that we finally decide to activate the assistant and use it regularly, this can be very useful. The purpose of all this is to save time when working with the desktop computer . This is an element that we initially find in the system’s Taskbar, but the corresponding icon will not always be visible.

Thus, in the event that you do not see the icon we are talking about to use Cortana through voice commands, it is hidden. To view it, we only have to click with the right button of the mouse on the Taskbar. Here we can select the option to Show Cortana button.

ver botón Cortana

Activate the wizard to use voice commands

Of course, just because we already see the button corresponding to the assistant in the Taskbar, it does not mean that they are already in operation. We can check that in a simple way just by clicking on it. In the event that the system then asks us to enter the account credentials, this will help us to activate the wizard .

Credenciales Cortana

Something that we must also bear in mind is that, as is usual, this is an assistant that we can use both via voice through commands, and with the keyboard. We have already commented on many occasions that this is an assistant that Microsoft included in Windows 10 since its inception to help us with the management of the system . Although its success has not been as expected at first, it could help us in some things.

How to disable Windows wizard

It can also be the case that we have Cortana activated in the operating system and we do not actually use it at all. At this point we could seriously consider deactivating it so as not to have it visible on the taskbar. Therefore, the first thing we should do is deactivate the assistant in Windows 10 , a very simple task as we are going to see.

Thus, the first thing we will do to deactivate the assistant in the operating system is to click on the menu button that is located in the upper left corner of Cortana. This is represented by three horizontal points and when clicking, several options will appear. Therefore, here we will only have to select the Close session.

Cerrar sesión Cortana

It is worth mentioning that this will help us to make the assistant no longer available in Windows, but we can go one step further. With this, what we tell you is that, as we did before, it appears on the button, now we can make it disappear. This is as simple as following the steps described above from the taskbar, but in this case removing the marker from the Show Cortana button option.

Methods to get Cortana up and running

We have already told you that this is an assistant that we can handle both with the voice and with the keyboard. In the beginning we had the possibility of making it via voice, but for some reason Microsoft has temporarily deactivated it. With everything and with this we have other methods to use to implement this functionality . As you can imagine, one of them is to activate the button that we put on display previously.

Once the corresponding window appears, we can start writing. At the same time, if we want to use our voice, we just have to click on the button in the shape of a microphone that appears.

funcionar Cortana

Similarly, if we want to access this section in a more agile and faster way, we can also use the Win + C key combination . In this way and instantly the wizard that we want to use at that moment will open.

Commands we can use

First of all, we will tell you that in the latest versions of Windows Microsoft eliminated the possibility of controlling the operating system by voice. Therefore, the usefulness of this functionality was quite limited. However, we can use it for some other tasks such as external searches or queries. That is why below we are going to show you some examples of the questions you can ask Cortana at this time:

  • Tell me a joke
  • What is the population of Spain?
  • What time is it in Russia?
  • Tell me about Pedro Sánchez
  • How tall is Selena Gomez?

In the same way we can interact with a little more sense of humor to smile a little while working with Windows. In this way we can ask Cortana many things to see what her reaction is. Next, we will leave you some of the questions that you can ask him to see his answer , you can also throw your imagination and try with others that you can think of:

  • What’s your name?
  • Who are you?
  • You’re a woman?
  • You are human?
  • What does Cortana mean?
  • Why are you sad?
  • Can I change your name?
  • How old are you?
  • You know how to cook?
  • What are you eating?
  • Where do you live?
  • Who is your mother?
  • Who is your father?