Cortana is here. It’s included in Windows 10. It’s the first major desktop operating system to include a personal assistant. Yes, you can talk to it (if you have the appropriate hardware). But if you’re a casual desktop user using Windows to get things done, you might be wondering what all this fuss is about. I mean, if you work in an office environment, you won’t be “talking” to your PC anytime soon.
But before you turn off Cortana, hear me out. It’s useful. And you can get a lot out of it if you integrate it into your daily life. There have been full articles about all the things Cortana can do (and it can do a lot). But today, we will focus only on 5. Five things you can use it with your keyboard. No silly voice business here.
1. Open the app
This is the most obvious use case for me. Instead of going to the new and restored Start Menu or installing a third-party keyboard launcher like Launchy, I open Cortana with the keyboard shortcut Windows key + WILL, type the name of the app and Cortana knows what I mean before I finish the first 3-4 letters. i press Enter and that’s it! Here is it. The application has been released. This only takes a few seconds.
2. Search the Web (from Cortana to Chrome, in Google Search)
Cortana will let you open web pages and search the web. To open web pages, all you need to do is enter the URL, including .com (say tutorialtech.com), and press Enter. If you switched your default browser to Google Chrome from Microsoft Edge, that’s where the browser will open.
However, the hard part is searching the web. Cortana integrates Bing search, it has built-in suggestions, but there is no way to switch the search engine to Google. So here we will need to use an alternative.
If you are using Chrome, install the Chrometana extension. It will automatically redirect Bing searches to Google Search (or DuckDuckGo).
So now, when you press Enter after entering the entire search term, the results will open in Chrome, with Google Search (albeit a bit slower).
3. Search files, folders, documents of any kind
Cortana is great at finding local files. It’s basically the Windows search we deserved 20 years ago. And searching for local files and apps doesn’t require an internet connection. And you don’t need any special commands either.
Just search for a file with its name, content, or something related to it and it should show up. The same goes for folders. If you do this right, you can avoid going to File Explorer most of the time. And that really excites me!
Cortana will let you search through any Setting item and will open it for you with one click. Want to uninstall a program? Just type “Uninstall” and you will find the relevant entry below Setting part. This is a really good example because the uninstall feature is actually called Change or Remove Programs. Similarly, you can search for any item in the Control Panel by entering the relevant search term.
Do all of this without Cortana: I mentioned everything above as Cortana features. But it’s not really. They are Windows search features but in Windows 10 it’s all in the Cortana search box. But even if you choose to disable Cortana for privacy reasons or can’t access Cortana in your territory, everything I’ve written will still be useful. Even if you use the old Windows trick of pressing the Windows key and just typing to search, it will still bring up the Cortana/Windows search box. However, the feature below requires Cortana to be enabled.
5. Set a quick reminder
Cortana has built-in reminders. And while it’s not used much on the desktop, it also supports location-based reminders. This will really help when iOS and Android apps launch. That’s when you can set reminders on your PC and they’ll sync to your smartphone.
To set a reminder, all you need to do is type “remind me” (time to be reminded at)”, press the button Enter key, select Repeat and you’re done.
Try to integrate them in your life
If you’ve been using Windows for decades, I know it can be hard to get used to something new. But remember, whenever you are searching for a file or want to search the web, first use Windows key + WILL keyboard shortcut (or press the key) window key and just start typing). Once it’s muscle memory, you’ll start to see how useful it can be.
Now it’s your turn. We know Cortana can do a lot. What is your favorite thing about it? Have you tried talking to it? Just like the Windows Phone version, Cortana is fun to talk to. Here are some suggestions on what to ask her.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
