FEBRUARY 2019 PCWorld 111The Search box appears at the bottom of the
screen, next to the Start menu icon.
Cortana doesn’t have the high profile that she
used to, but she’s there to answer questions, set
reminders, and more.THE SEARCH BOX,
AND CORTANA
Unless you’ve toggled it off, you should see
a Search box next to the Start icon. It’s here
that Cortana has merged her consciousness
with general Windows search.
At one time, Cortana would monitor all
of your interests and surface news and
relevant bits of information. Today, she
serves three purposes: as an assistant to
answer questions, set reminders, and create
lists. If you click in the search box, you can
ask a query (“How tall is the Eiffel Tower?”)
and Bing will report the result. But it’s easier
to go to Settings > Cortana and enable the
“Hey, Cortana” trigger word. If your PC has a
microphone built in, you can then ask these
questions of Cortana, even when the PC is
locked. You can also set reminders (“Remind
me to call Dad at 8 PM”) or create a
This is why it’s handy to allow Windows access to
your search history, as we’ll teach you how to do in
the privacy section, below.shopping list.
To better understand you, though,
Cortana needs to know your information. In
Settings > Cortana > Permissions & History,
if you toggle on permission to allow access