Windows 10 could finally ditch one of its most annoying features during setup

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By Darren Allan
published

Cortana gets the elbow as Windows 10X setup is set to be adopted

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Windows 10 is slowly getting more elements brought across from Windows 10X, which is Microsoft’s plan as we heard earlier this year, and this will apparently include a new Cortana-free setup experience for the desktop operating system.

That’s the case according to prolific leaker Albacore, who tweeted about the Windows 10X OOBE (out of box experience – meaning initial setup process) being inbound for the desktop in Windows 10. In fact, it’s present in the latest test build (version 20231) of Windows 10.

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Albacore shows it in action in the video above, with the interface offering a sleeker and more friendly look, and a more streamlined process (also featuring a white rather than blue background).

It still remains broadly the same as the existing Windows 10 setup experience, mind you, in many respects, with the same basic steps such as the screen of options for choosing privacy settings on your PC. (Although Albacore observes that apparently some Windows 10 users currently get privacy options delivered one page at a time – and the new scheme of things will unify the experience for everyone).

One big point to note, however, is that as mentioned Cortana will be dumped from Windows 10 setup, to the relief of many who found the digital assistant’s presence to be annoying and intrusive. Windows 10X removed Cortana from the OOBE as part of streamlining measures, as we’ve reported previously.

Big changes

We’ve already seen that preview build 20231 is rolling out a new element of the setup experience to some Windows 10 testers, whereby the OS asks about the type of usage and then tailors setup accordingly – to cater specifically for gamers, for example, or creative types, or a family setting up their PC.

This, and bringing the setup experience across from Windows 10X, will all be part of revamping Windows 10’s OOBE – assuming that Microsoft doesn’t change its mind during testing and development, of course (but that doesn’t seem likely, as there appears to be a lot of momentum gathering behind these changes now).

Via Neowin

Darren Allan

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).