How to Disable Search/Cortana Feature in Windows 10 to Speed up Your Computer

One of the new features in Windows 10 is the search function in the Start menu, as was the case in Windows 7. However, Microsoft has enhanced the feature by integrating the personal assistant Cortana with it to make it smarter and help users quickly access what they are looking for in the Start menu or even search on the internet. While this feature consumes a lot of system resources even if not in use, as it runs in the background and consumes 20 – 25% of the CPU and RAM, which can slow down the device, especially if it has weak components. There is no option in the settings to disable the feature in order to improve device performance and reduce resource consumption. However, in this article, I will show you a unique way to completely disable the feature and how to restore it if needed. Let’s begin with the steps.

In the image above, you will find the Task Manager. After launching it by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc on the keyboard, you will find a process named “Search” running in the background, which is associated with the search feature I mentioned. Notice that it consumes a large amount of RAM and CPU, sometimes reaching up to 100 megabytes of RAM without utilization! If you try to close this process by clicking End Task, it will automatically restart at the same moment. So, how can you disable it? Simply follow the following steps to achieve that.

All you need to do is modify the file responsible for running the feature, which is called “SearchUI.exe”. This file is responsible for running the Search process. You can access it by following the path:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy

After navigating to this path on your Windows 10 computer, start searching for the file named SearchUI but be patient as you will not be able to delete it because the feature is actually running in the background. Therefore, simply rename this file by right-clicking on it, selecting Rename, adding a name, and pressing Enter. Now, reopen the Task Manager, click on the “Search” process, and End Task it. Note that it will not restart automatically as it did before, thus disabling the feature completely. To verify this, click on the search box in the taskbar next to the Start icon, and it should not work. If you want to enable it again, simply rename the process back to “SearchUI”.

If an error message appears while renaming due to the administrator privileges, there is no issue. Right-click on the SearchUI file, select Properties, go to the Security tab, click on Advanced, then Change in front of Owner. Type your username that you assigned during Windows installation, click OK, and the Owner field should display your name instead of Trustedinstaller. Click OK again to close this window.

Now, go back to the Security tab, click Edit, and select Administrators, check Full control under Allow, then click OK. The changes will be applied without any issues.