How to Hide the Cortana Search Box on the Windows 10 Taskbar

One of the most talked about features in the latest version of Windows 10 was the Cortana personal assistant that is integrated directly into the taskbar. But what if you don’t want to waste all that taskbar space?

Luckily they not only provide a way to remove the search box from the taskbar, but you can change it into an icon, or you can remove it entirely and then it’ll show up on the taskbar only when you open the Start Menu (so you can still search for your apps).

We’re not entirely sure if we like the idea of a digital assistant as part of Windows, but if you’re using the preview, we recommend that you test it out at least to give it a chance. If you don’t like it, then you can disable it and make the search box revert back to the Windows 8.x behavior where it searches your apps as well as the web.

Removing the Cortana Search Box from the Taskbar 

 Simply right-click on any empty space on the taskbar, go to Search, and then change “Show search box” to either “Show search icon” or “Disabled.”

If you change it to an icon, it’ll show a circle like you can see below.

 

And if you disable it entirely, it’ll be removed from the taskbar. You can also customize the start menu in windows 10

 Disabling Cortana

If you don’t want Cortana to show up in your search box, you can click on the little hamburger icon on the top left and then choose Settings.

 And then simply click the toggle to disable it.

Again, this is a new technology and if you’re using the Preview of Windows 10 you should probably leave it enabled. But since it takes up way too much space on the taskbar, it’s nice that you can customize that. :)