How To Activate and Use Cortana on Windows 10
This post will show you how to activate and use Cortana on Windows 10 and brief instructions on using it. Now let's get started on it.
Cortana is Microsoft's virtual assistant that can perform various tasks on your computer with voice commands. Cortana was built with artificial intelligence technology that attempts to replicate human intelligence and behavior. I was quite impressed with this digital assistant in the early days of using Cortana, especially how it responds to conversations and performs commands exactly the way we want. But over time, some limitations keep Cortana looking like a program, not as perfect as a human.
How To Activate and Use Cortana On Windows 10
Even so, using Cortana remains pleasant and helpful under certain conditions. Cortana can do many things, from doing web searches and displaying snippets (snippets) on the Start menu, playing music and radio, reading incoming emails, taking notes, making schedules, playing games to guess the movie's title. Other virtual assistants are also made with AI, such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. Still, since we were in the ecosystem of Windows 10, Cortana is the best.
This post will show you how to activate and use Cortana on Windows 10 and brief instructions on using it. Now let's get started on it.
1. Update Windows
Updating Windows is one of the things that must be done after installing Windows 10, especially for those who are using an old version of the ISO package in which there is no Cortana. So we have to do it first to install the updated Cortana.
To perform the update, go to Settings> select Update & Security> Chek button clicks to update.
Wait for the update process to complete.
2. Login Microsoft Account
The next step is to log in using a Microsoft account (outlook email) on Windows 10. Click the Start button> Account> login.
3. Change the language and region to the United States
To use it, we have to change the language and region of Windows 10 to a country that supports it. The United States is a country that gets full support for all Windows features, including applications in the Microsoft Store, so it is recommended to use this country.
For the steps, go to Settings> select Time and Language> select Region.
In the "Country or region", select United States. In the "Regional format," select English (United States).
Then enter the "Language" menu then select English (United States).
When finished, restart the computer so that the changes can be applied perfectly.
4. Activate Cortana
Then we can activate Cortana. For the steps, click the circle icon to the search bar's right, or you can also click the Start button and then look for a menu called Cortana.
On the user agreement page, select I agree.
Click Use Cortana> click Yes> click Sign in
At this point, we have successfully activated Cortana in Windows 10, but the voice command feature still cannot be used. We have to activate it first.
5. Activate "Hey Cortana" to be able to use voice commands
"Hey Cortana" is a voice command that will activate Cortana's listening mode, so when we say "Hey Cortana," the microphone will be active, and our next words will be a command for Cortana.
To activate this feature, go to Settings> select Cortana.
Click on Check the microphone. Make sure the voice input has been detected properly. You can use the microphone built from a laptop or using an external device such as a headset that contained his microphone.
In the "Hey Cortana" option, click until it becomes On.
Check the option "Keep my device from sleeping when it's plugged in so I can always say" Hey Cortana "(unless I turn it off myself) - this function is to prevent sleep on the laptop when connected to the charger.
When finished, exit the settings and try to use Cortana. When it is set correctly, every time we say "Hey Cortana," Cortana will immediately activate.
How to use Cortana?
To use Cortana with a voice command, you must start by saying "Hey Cortana" and then say the command. For example, we want to create a new alarm, then we have to say "Hey Cortana"> then Cortana will be active and be in listen mode> then say "set the alarm".
There are many other things we can do with Cortana. I'm going to share a complete list of voice commands that Cortana can do.
1. Open the application
Open “application name."
or
Go to “application name."
Example: Open Google Chrome, Open Mail, Open Mozilla Firefox, Open Notepad
2. Check and read out incoming email
Check my email
or
Check my inbox
3. Make notes
Create a note
and you can also make notes directly with the title
Create a "title" note
Example: create a Sunday note
4. Create a schedule
Set a schedule
or
Set a schedule for "name of the day."
5. Turning off the computer
Shutdown
Shutdown the computer
Turn off
Turn off the computer
6. Playing music (via Spotify)
Play the music
Play the "song title."
7. Create an alarm
Set the alarm
or
Set the alarm for "number of minutes."
The alarm will count down based on the number of minutes we mention.
8. Turn off the alarm
Turn off the alarm
or
Turn off the alarm for "time".
9. Translate words from English to other languages
Translate "word" to "language."
Example: Translate sleeping to Indonesian.
or
How do I say "word" in "Language."
Example: How do I say sleeping in Italian
10. Defines the meaning of a word
Define the "word."
Example: Define peculiar
Cortana will explain the meaning of the word "peculiar".
11. Get the weather forecast information
Tell me about the weather?
What is the weather like?
What is the weather in "location"? Example: What is the weather in Jakarta?
How is the weather "time"? Example: How is the weather tomorrow?, How is the weather on Sunday?
12. Get information about sunrise and sunset times
When does the sunrise?
When does the sunset?
13. Currency conversion
"Currency" to "currency."
"Nominal currency" to "currency."
Example: US dollar to Indonesian Rupiah, 10 US dollar to Indonesian Rupiah
14. Become a playmate
Let’s play the movie game
Let’s play rock paper scissor
15. Sing
Sing
Sing a song for me
Sing a good song for me
16. Laughter
Laugh
Laugh for me
Can you laugh?
17. Read out funny stories, quotes, poetry
Tell me a story
Tell me a good story
Tell me a joke
Tell me a bad joke
Tell me a poem
Tell me a quote
18. Obtain someone's biographical information
Who is the "name of a person.”
Example: Who is Bill Gates?, Who is Mark Zuckerberg?, Who is Jeff Bezos?
19. Image search
Show me the pictures of the “object.”
or
Show me the photos of the “object.”
Example: Show me the photos of a Leopard
20. Video search
Show me the videos of “object.”
Example: Show me the videos of Lion in Savannah
21. Search size information (height, area, distance, depth)
What is the height of the "object" - to get the height information of a person, building, or other objects.
Example: How tall is the Lion ?, How tall is Bill Gates ?, How tall is the Burj Khalifa?
How wide is the “location” - to get information on the area of an area
Example: How big is London ?, how big is Jakarta?
How far is it between “location” and “location” - to get distance information from one location to another
Example: How far is it between London and New Jersey ?, How far is it between Jupiter and Mars?
How deep are the territorial waters - to find information on the depth of a water area.
Example: How deep is the Indian Ocean ?, How deep is Lake Toba?
23. Calculating like a calculator
Percentage:
What is the "percentage" of "number"?
Example: What is 20% of 1,300,000 What is "number" times "number"?
Multiplication
What is "number" times "number"?
Example: What are 77 times 98?
Division:
What is "number" divided by "number"?
Example: What is 99 divided by 19?
Square root:
What is the square root of "number"?
Example: What is the square root of 999?
Conversion:
How many "number" "unit" in "unit"?
Example: How many 1,000,000 Kilograms in Milligrams?
24. Answering questions
Cortana can answer a lot of questions. Sometimes there is humour tucked in there. You can try the following questions:
Who are you?
What are you?
How you made it?
Who made you?
How do you look?
Who is your voice?
Are you smart?
Are you fat?
Are you beautiful?
Are you a man or a woman?
Who is your father?
Who is your mother?
Do you have siblings?
Do you happy?
Are you mad with me?
Do you love me?
Do you feel good?
Do you love Bill Gates?
What is in your mind?
What are you thinking right now?
What happened today?
There is much more than Cortana can do. You can do it yourself. The key to using Cortana is to start with "Hey Cortana," then use a command word or question followed by a keyword.
So that’s how we can activate and use Cortana on Windows 10. I hope one of these was able to help you out. If so, drop us feedback in the comments section, which of the suggestions worked for you. If you found it useful, share it with anyone you think may have the same problem. See you in the next post. Good luck!