How to stop Cortana from running in the background?

Question

Cortana continues to consume RAM and processing speed on my PC. I have disabled Cortana with RegEdit {HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows} change 1 to 0. Even after this, I still find Cortana in my Task Manager as active as always. I try to "End Task" but Cortana immediately comes back. Any suggestions?

Edition: Windows 10 Home Version: 1903 Installed on: 8/23/2019 OS build: 18362.295 64-bit Operating System

Update: last few times I've checked it has remained in the green leaf econo symbol icon and stayed fixed at zero CPU usage zero memory usage (see next screenshot). However, that does not leave me reassured that it will stay like that perpetually.

Solution

First, Cortana (up to Windows 10 v. 1809) includes Windows Search. You can completely disable Cortana, but then Search on your own HDD (or SSD) no longer works.

You can disable Cloud Search, voice response and other aspects of Cortana, either through the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search, or using a third-party tool such as O&O ShutUp10, shown below.

Comments

[Daniel B]

“Cortana continues to gobble away at my RAM and processing speed.” And how exactly did you determine that? Please provide a screenshot, if possible.

[KC Reboot]

Okay. Screenshot added. ^_^

[Ramhound]

Edit your question to indicate what version of Windows 10 you are using

[DrMoishe Pippik]

Possible duplicate of Can I completely disable Cortana on Windows 10?

[Daniel B]

Be very careful with ShupUp10 though. It can irreversibly break (some) Windows functionality.