Microsoft to Remove Cortana From Windows 10 Search Bar

The latest Windows 10 preview build, released today for Windows Insiders in the Fast ring, moves Microsoft's digital assistant out of the Search bar, where it currently resides.

"Going forward, we'll be decoupling Search and Cortana in the taskbar," Microsoft's Dona Sarkar and Brandon LeBlanc wrote in a blog post. "This will enable each experience to innovate independently to best serve their target audiences and use cases."

Cortana isn't going far: Microsoft has moved it just to the right of the Search bar.

"When it rolls out to you, you'll find clicking the search box in the taskbar now launches our experience focused on giving you the best in-house search experience and clicking the Cortana icon will launch you straight into our voice-first digital assistant experience," Sarkar and LeBlanc explained.

Besides that, preview build 18317 improves Start reliability and launch time, offers a new font management experience in Settings (you can now simply drag and drop font files from File Explorer into the Settings > Fonts page to install them), and a simpler Windows Insider Program Settings page (to check it out, visit Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program). The pared-down Windows Insider Programs Settings page offers all the same functionality, but should make it easier to sign up for the program and set up your PC to take new builds.

There's also a long list of Windows Console updates and "general changes, improvements, and fixes."

:story: PC Magazine