Microsoft ditches popular feature on Windows 11

Aug 14: Microsoft first launched the app, Cortana,  back in 2014 as a digital assistant on the Windows Phone.

But Microsoft has announced that it has officially ditched its standalone Cortana app for Windows 11.

The smart assistant app has been ditched 9 years after it launched on the Windows Phone.

Cortana first launched on the Windows Phone back in 2014, before being added as a smart assistant in Windows 10, one year later.

It was integrated within the Windows 10 toolbar, where users could use the smart assistant to set reminders, open applications and more.

With the launch of Windows 11 two years ago, Microsoft removed Cortana from the taskbar and instead featured it as a standalone app.

However, the standalone app has now been ditched entirely.

The tech giant explained the change in a blog post this week, highlighting that it "understands this may affect the way you work."

"We're making some changes to Windows and Microsoft 365 that will impact Cortana users," Microsoft explained.

"Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated. Support for Cortana in Teams mobile, Microsoft Teams display, and Microsoft Teams Rooms will end in the fall of 2023. Cortana in Outlook mobile will continue to be available."

In its blog post, Microsoft highlighted several other tools that users might find useful amid the removal of Cortana.

This includes Voice access, the new AI-powered Bing, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Windows Copilot.

"We are excited to keep innovating and using AI to help you work smarter and faster," it added.

"We hope you enjoy the new ways to use AI to save time and focus on what matters most to you."

The news comes shortly after Microsoft ditched a classic feature of PC keyboards that dates back around two decades.

Print Screen is a button on PC keyboards that takes a screenshot and automatically copies it so users can paste it into another application, such as Paint. 

Now, an upcoming update for Windows 11, called KB5025310, will change this so the Print Screen button opens up Microsoft's Snipping Tool instead.

(MSN)