How to remove "Ask me anything" from windows task bar (turn off cortana)

Question

I have got a new PC and I am trying to kill Cortana once and for all. I have many different version of essentially the same guide as to how to turn it off but none of them exactly match what I am seeing on my computer - no doubt because Microsoft seems to change all this stuff ever 5 minutes.

I am on Windows 10 Pro, Version 1703, OS Build 15063.250

I think that I need an option that says

Cortana can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders alerts and more

but I do not see that in any of the settings panel that I have opened.

If I click the notebook icon there is no settings options there (there is a permissions option and I have turned everything off).

I can remove the search bar from the task menu by using the cortana menu but that only shrinks or removes the search bar. I want the search bar but not the microphone or cortana.

Answer 1

I managed to solve this in the end with this helpful webpage:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3109900/software/you-can-remove-cortana-from-windows-10-but-its-tricky.html

It links to another article that says:

Cortana, the personal digital assistant that replaced Windows 10’s search function and taps into Bing’s servers to answer your queries with contextual awareness, no longer has an off switch in Windows 10 Home and Pro.

but goes on to explain how to get round this:

To shut down Cortana in Windows 10 Pro simply type gpedit.msc in the search box to open the Group Policy Editor. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search. Double-click the policy named Allow Cortana.

Lets hope that they don't remove this option anytime soon.