I think disabling Cortana (and maybe web search) via group policy and blocking in- and outbound traffic via firewall is the best one can do without digging too deep into the system. Now it's just sitting there eating up 30 MB of memory. Compromise.
I killed her in normal boot windows using Lock Hunter and task manager, services.msc, and the delete key, the result was 100% stable windows, no Cortana, but obviously search from the start menu did nothing, open start > type, nadda This was in VM, but on real hardware I use 3rd party for my menu, so that hideous lump of tiles never gets seen anyway
I wonder how this works in 2015 LTSB... there's no Cortana, but Start search must keep working there. Conclusion: There must be way of getting rid of it without breaking Start search - at least on pre-RS1 releases.
I believe you are correct. I'm not sure what is happening with that 32MB process, but I cannot seem to get rid of it. Oh well....
Well, for me, getting rid of that 32MB Task Manager process resulted in the scenario I recounted in my OP. The desktop environment just would not start correctly.
Yes. MDL is starting to look worryingly like a fanboy forum a la neowin or alike. MS is succeeding in taming the userbase and making it Apple like. Winter is coming (and brainwashing is coming as well)
Somehow I had missed that post of yours above. Probably all the *other* stuff in this thread..... Anyways, THANK YOU! That 'precooked meal' did just exactly what I've been trying to accomplish all evening. The 32MB Task Manager process of Cortana is now gone! I already have been using Classic Shell for a menu, so the search box was not an issue. I don't really use it anyway, instead I use a very good and extremely fast program called "Everything", that searches all of my drives in less than 2 seconds. But I digress... Again, many thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I'll be keeping that bit of kit for future use!
@All I've merged multiple similar threads - please continue the discussion here. Also, please don't behave like children... this isn't a place for name calling or flaming. Use the report button if necessary.