Uninstall Cortana from Windows 10

[jaclaz]

 

just nothing out there will give you instant weather, tried all the free stuff.

 

A visit to weather.com seems to do it for me.

 

More traditionally, I just look outside the window .

It's raining right now and I need not to send to some unknown server on the internet my approximate geolocation to have back a lousy picture of a cloud with some drops and possibly a lightning, I can observe those instantly, in real time and in a 1:1 scale.

 

jaclaz

[NoelC]

Yeah, sure, but (assuming you're not living in a cave) what's the temperature out there?  You COULD go walk outside (not a bad idea)...

 

Here's my view outside my window right now...

 

 

Can you see that it's 91F?  What does that sky tell me about the hurricane that's just 150 miles away, and what it's going to do, which will affect my life over the next few days?

 

-Noel

Edited October 2, 2015 by NoelC

[jaclaz]

Usually I open the window and appreciate the outside temperature through my factory built-in (thanks mom/dad ) sensors, it takes only a few milliseconds using fuzzy logic , ultimately classifying the climate along human readable tags, you know,something like, windy, cold, warm, hot, freezing, etc. and in case of need getting an analog accessory (such as a jacket or a raincoat) with me BEFORE going for the walk outside.

Surprisingly to do all the above I don't really need an internet connection, nor being connected to mains, and not even a battery.

 

 

jaclaz

[maxXPsoft]

Don't like the weather where I live wait an hour it will change.

 

This was actually trying to figure out something. I uninstalled store, weather and amd catalyst control center all one afternoon. Next day it was slow to hit desktop after logging in. Need to see what I removed was hanging it up.

[NoelC]

My Win 10 build 10240 test VM now settles to 40 processes running with no other applications active.  I've provisioned it as an 8 core 8 GB VM, and the RAM used is about 1 GB, give or take.

 

 

Of those 40, these 8 are running by my choice:

 

• aerohost.exe - Aero Glass for Win 8+.
• ClassicStartMenu.exe - Classic Shell.
• ProcessHacker.exe - The tool that enumerates the processes shown above.
• ShellFolderFixUI.exe - A handy accessory that pre-positions File Explorer windows.
• TSVNCache.exe - Tortoise SVN (a software development tool).
• vmtoolsd.exe (2 processes) - A necessary part of running Win 10 in a VMware virtual machine.
• Windows10FirewallService.exe - Sphinx Windows 10 Firewall Control package.

 

This system runs stably, runs all the desktop applications I need, and seems reasonably efficient (though not more so than a similarly provisioned Windows 7 system).  The desktop looks pretty nice and it does NOT run any Metro/Modern/Universal Apps except Settings and the Notification / Action Center.

 

Given this level of optimization - and many thanks to maxXPsoft and others for posting tips and tricks on how to trim it down - I'd say Windows 10, optimized for Desktop operation, seems about on par with a decently-tuned Windows 7 system.

 

If *only* something were BETTER about it, it might even be worth using.  As it is, it remains a curiosity in a VM for me, since I don't know what's coming next month or next year, and I don't trust Microsoft to take it where I need to go.

 

-Noel

[maxXPsoft]

If *only* something were BETTER about it, it might even be worth using.  As it is, it remains a curiosity in a VM for me, since I don't know what's coming next month or next year, and I don't trust Microsoft to take it where I need to go.

 

-Noel

 

Sure don't with them removing control panel although I circumvent that quite a bit anyways. But their replacement sucks to high hell

 

I started using that Windows Firewall Control and donated 10 to be able to set the notifications so I can see whats going out.

That with W10 Privacy and all it blocks its fairly quiet.

 

Of course do we really know whats going in or out anymore?

They circumvent things and have a long time. I know there has been times I couldn't get on internet or check mail so my next test was check updates out of curiosity and the updates came through and said they were ready to download. That's way back to early 7 I seen this.

[NoelC]

I think it would be incredibly embarrassing if Microsoft built a detour around their own firewall.  I'd sure love to be the one to catch them at it.

 

-Noel

[intika]

By the way, do you see this error logged now, when you boot up?

 

 

I guess we now know that the SearchUI.exe startup command is in DCOM.

 

-Noel

 

 

I have the same error not only after boot but also when i call the native start menu. (cortona)

 

i also uninstalled ShellExperienceHost this give similar error and ruin the startmenu and notifications windows... so i managed to restore the system app "ShellExperienceHost" by just copying it's folder back to (C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy) from an image backup and native start menu plus notification windows are now working...

 

Noel did you uninstalled C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost and still have native startmenu working ?

Edited October 15, 2015 by intika

[intika]

Example of a package restoration after uninstalling it with install_wim_tweak :

 

I managed to fully restore an uninstalled package. (backup needed or you can do it from dvd) ^^ yaaay avoid me 2h to restore etc

 

Here is how (i took ShellExperienceHost as exemple)

 

Step 1. Restore Application File

C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost...

Step 2. Delete a registry entry

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\CatalogsToUninstall\ *** YOUR PACKAGE NAME (ShellExperienceHost bla bla) ***

Step 3. Restore those registry keys and it's contents

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~fr-FR~10.0.10240.16384][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~fr-FR~10.0.10240.16384\Owners][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageIndex\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~0.0.0.0][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageIndex\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~fr-FR~0.0.0.0][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageDetect\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~0.0.0.0][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageDetect\Microsoft-Windows-ServerCore-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~0.0.0.0][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageDetect\Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~0.0.0.0][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~10.0.10240.16384][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~10.0.10240.16384\Owners]

Step 4 : Reboot and RocknRoll !!

 

Note :

I used this to manipulate the registry

"devxexec.exe /user:TrustedInstaller regedit.exe" 

EDIT : Step 3.5 : you need to restore catalog files too in "C:\Windows\servicing\Packages" (2 files)

 

EDIT : Step 3.6 : you need to check if the package have been updated... and catalog the update too (run "Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth") and check errors there, you should have some thing like "Package_392_for_KB3081455~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~10.0.1.3" missing or so... in other term you need to restore "Package_392" registry keys and catalog files too

Simply just repeat all the steps for "Package_392" which is the updated package name .

Edited November 8, 2015 by intika

[NoelC]

 

Noel did you uninstalled C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost and still have native startmenu working ?

 

 

No, that's still in there.

 

-Noel

[intika]

By the way, do you see this error logged now, when you boot up?

 

 

I guess we now know that the SearchUI.exe startup command is in DCOM.

 

-Noel

 

Here is how to get rid of this error and make a real full uninstall

 

https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/issues/48

 

Note : i used http://sqlitebrowser.org/to edit the sql db

 

By the way the linked topic to github helped me to get rid of a lot of modern app proprely

Edited November 5, 2015 by intika

[NoelC]

Wow, why use a text file when a database will do?

 

Microsoft's heads are so firmly inserted...

 

-Noel

[maxXPsoft]

 

By the way, do you see this error logged now, when you boot up?

 

 

I guess we now know that the SearchUI.exe startup command is in DCOM.

 

-Noel

 

Here is how to get rid of this error and make a real full uninstall

 

https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/issues/48

 

Note : i used http://sqlitebrowser.org/to edit the sql db

 

By the way the linked topic to github helped me to get rid of a lot of modern app proprely

 

 

intika

Are you saying you no longer get that in your error log doing the github method?

I don't mean the easy stuff like github shows, I'm talking Cortana and Search2?

 

I don't care if thats in my logs cause I use a log cleaner cmd which is really easy

 

Kind of waiting in the lowlands and see what Threshold 2 gonna do on the 10th

[intika]

 

 

By the way, do you see this error logged now, when you boot up?

 

I guess we now know that the SearchUI.exe startup command is in DCOM.

 

-Noel

 

Here is how to get rid of this error and make a real full uninstall

 

https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/issues/48

 

Note : i used http://sqlitebrowser.org/to edit the sql db

 

By the way the linked topic to github helped me to get rid of a lot of modern app proprely

 

 

intika

Are you saying you no longer get that in your error log doing the github method?

I don't mean the easy stuff like github shows, I'm talking Cortana and Search2?

 

I don't care if thats in my logs cause I use a log cleaner cmd which is really easy

 

Kind of waiting in the lowlands and see what Threshold 2 gonna do on the 10th

 

 

Hi,

 

Just for info awaiting to write a big topic on optimizing windows 10

 

I removed almost all modern app on my win10x32

 

1. This powershell command "Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -online" retrun no package at all in my case

 

2. This powershell command "Get-AppxPackage" return for me only :

- Windows.MiracastView (could be removed)

- windows.immersivecontrolpanel (i guess it's needed for modern control pannel)

- Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost (needed for modern start menu, clock frame notification etc.)

- Microsoft.Windows.AssignedAccessLockApp (i think i could remove it too did not check yet)

- Microsoft.LockApp (i think i could remove it too did not check yet)

- Microsoft.AccountsControl (i guess it needed for login page etc.)

 

3. My system is well working without any issue.

 

To answer your question, yes the github method https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/issues/48 is more efficient than install_wim_tweak_NET4.6.exe

because it use directly the intended command to uninstall the package, the whole purpose of the tuto in github is to gain rights over limiting rights on win 10 where we could not uninstall certain system packages etc.

 

And yes i don't have the error any more, it's not about cleaning the logs or not, but the system generate a fault and i don't want it to...

the git method is kind a unregistering the package correctly so it's no more called on start menu etc.

 

Edited November 7, 2015 by intika

[NoelC]

Your github instructions are pretty terse between steps 2 and 3, but I figured it out.  I did find an entry for Cortana there, on row 32, and I was able to change the IsInBox entry to 0.

 

Having removed Cortana already via the instructions earlier in this thread, there was nothing more I could do.  I could not remove a package that was already removed.  The error logged at startup remains.

 

I'll try again after the 10586 in-place upgrade restores Cortana, which it will almost certainly do in just a few days.

 

-Noel