Windows 11’s Cortana is dead, and it’s you who will pull the plug

If you want to say goodbye to Cortana one last time within Windows 11, don’t update the app.

Microsoft began deprecating the Cortana app within the Windows Insider program just a short time ago — that’s programmer-speak for “getting rid of,” just like “layoff” or “workforce reduction” is HR-speak for the same thing. You can still open the Cortana app on Windows 11, but be careful.

On the top of the app you may notice that Cortana has an update available. If you ignore the update (for now), Cortana should continue to work as she’s supposed to for the time being. But if you apply the update, you’ll essentially kill Cortana.

After applying the update, you can reopen the Cortana app. But if you do so, you’ll see a message about how Cortana is now deprecated. At this point, you may as well uninstall the app itself, as Cortana is now effectively dead. That’s a huge bummer for a Friday, isn’t it?

Mark Hachman / IDG

Cortana had personality. She had a voice. She was the face of Windows for years, even if she was eventually transformed into something of a monster in the Halo games themselves. Now, Microsoft has replaced Cortana with Bing Chat and Windows Copilot, which is now sort of a soulless corporate bot, there to help you and not much more. Rest in peace, Cortana.