"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task
Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the
listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

--
John C.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button
maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who seldom co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues
(rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click Taskbar,
News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another possible culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Ed

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 12/31/2024 8:52 AM, John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

You can uninstall all that crap, but it takes some effort. MS have
gone out of their way to obfuscate the "app" system. Even the folder
names are pure nonsense. This link goes to a typical explanation.
You can find others:

https://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-remove-all-built-in-apps-in-windows-10/

Another example:

https://gist.github.com/tkrotoff/830231489af5c5818b15

Basically the idea is that you have to run Poweshell commands. I think there may be a PS command to delete the whole mess, but I'm not sure. I did them
one at a time, then went into C:\Program Files\WindowsApps and deleted
the leftovers. I now mostly only have runtimes for .Net and VC++ in there.

Search is especially pesky because another service will restart it even if
you disable it, but I found a clever script. You put this in a .bat file:

taskkill /f /im SearchApp.exe
timeout /T 1
move %windir%\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy %windir%\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy.old

It kills the search app, then renames the folder. A moment later,
Background Tasks Infrastructure tries to restart it, but can no longer
find it. As I recall that saved something like 170MB of nonsense waste.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 12/31/2024 8:52 AM, John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Presented just for the comedy of it.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/get-rid-of-news-and-interests/1cd2ad88-5830-4f1f-8df3-4596a7c75def

"I wrote a little program that every 2 minutes or so scans <=== frequency should be much higher
all running processes and kills any SearchApp it finds, and thus <=== should be checking ten times a second :-)
killing News and Interests. But Windows loads it back up every time.

- Renamed SearchApp.exe to SearchApp Backup.exe somewhere in the
\Windows\SystemApp folder. Disadvantage here is that the Taskbar
starts behaving a bit weird and one loses the taskbar search. But
it does permanently kills News and Interests.
"

And, sniff, the private Location service that was running,
gets turned off too. Now the user will only get the air
temperature in Redmond. And the advertisers will think you're
in Redmond too.

A search indicates there is "Fake GPS Emulator", but I'll leave that
for Arlen to test.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task
Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the
listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search
application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Which I have now removed from my system by using OO Appbuster:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

However, this application does not list "News and interests" as an
installed "app" (God, I hate that term.) Might be listed as something
else there, but I haven't been able to figure out what that might be.

I do know though, that "News and interests" runs from the following
location:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who seldom co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues (rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click Taskbar,
News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another possible culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Those three settings are all in the off position and grayed out.
Presumably because I set the GPE/Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/News and interests/Enable news and interests on the taskbar set to "Disabled".

And yet, the miserable S.O.B. still shows up in the Task Manager as
running in the background. I can kill the process, but after a while
(probably deliberately designed to fool me into thinking it won't) it
restarts.

I'm still unable to find the setting and disable it to allow me to
prevent this nonsense. All I know is that this is the location of the
Search process that N&I runs:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

--
John C.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

John C. wrote:

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it >>> to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task
Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's
listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the
listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it
start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer?
It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search >>> application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Which I have now removed from my system by using OO Appbuster:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

However, this application does not list "News and interests" as an
installed "app" (God, I hate that term.) Might be listed as something
else there, but I haven't been able to figure out what that might be.

I do know though, that "News and interests" runs from the following
location:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button
maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who seldom
co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues
(rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click Taskbar,
News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another possible
culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Those three settings are all in the off position and grayed out.
Presumably because I set the GPE/Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/News and interests/Enable news and interests on the taskbar set to "Disabled".

And yet, the miserable S.O.B. still shows up in the Task Manager as
running in the background. I can kill the process, but after a while (probably deliberately designed to fool me into thinking it won't) it restarts.

I'm still unable to find the setting and disable it to allow me to
prevent this nonsense. All I know is that this is the location of the
Search process that N&I runs:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

Eh... make that:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchApp.exe

And as a side note, I see that containing folder also has inside it:

Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd

and:

Cortana.Search.winmd

I uninstalled Cortana. What the HELL are these files doing there? Are
they simply orphan files or are they still active and doing something?

Copilot told me that "The file Cortana.Search.winmd is part of the
Windows Search application, which is why it's still present in the
SystemApps folder. This file is related to the Windows Search
functionality and not specifically to Cortana."

Copilot says pretty much the same thing about the
Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd file.

--
John C.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

John C. wrote:

John C. wrote:

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly: >>>>
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and set it >>>> to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task >>>> Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's >>>> listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the >>>> listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it >>>> start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up
list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer? >>>> It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing
from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the Search >>>> application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Which I have now removed from my system by using OO Appbuster:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

However, this application does not list "News and interests" as an
installed "app" (God, I hate that term.) Might be listed as something
else there, but I haven't been able to figure out what that might be.

I do know though, that "News and interests" runs from the following
location:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button
maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who seldom >>> co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues
(rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click Taskbar, >>> News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another possible >>> culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Those three settings are all in the off position and grayed out.
Presumably because I set the GPE/Local Computer Policy/Computer
Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/News and
interests/Enable news and interests on the taskbar set to "Disabled".

And yet, the miserable S.O.B. still shows up in the Task Manager as
running in the background. I can kill the process, but after a while
(probably deliberately designed to fool me into thinking it won't) it
restarts.

I'm still unable to find the setting and disable it to allow me to
prevent this nonsense. All I know is that this is the location of the
Search process that N&I runs:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

Eh... make that:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchApp.exe

And as a side note, I see that containing folder also has inside it:

Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd

and:

Cortana.Search.winmd

I uninstalled Cortana. What the HELL are these files doing there? Are
they simply orphan files or are they still active and doing something?

Copilot told me that "The file Cortana.Search.winmd is part of the
Windows Search application, which is why it's still present in the
SystemApps folder. This file is related to the Windows Search
functionality and not specifically to Cortana."

Copilot says pretty much the same thing about the Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd file.

You're doing well, John. I have to admire your efforts. But a couple of reservations have been pointed out to me by a good friend at the bar of
a good pub.
Firstly, when Win10 has a major update, all your efforts could well just
be wiped out.
Secondly, you might cripple the OS with your efforts, and not find out
until later when damage has been done.
Thirdly, there's a kind of obsessive compulsion in it all. Sigmund Freud
wrote about "anal retentive personalities".
Fourthly, it consumes so much time.

My mate has always been a good mate, and he's educated and intelligent.
I've taken advice from him before. So I'm leaving my system alone; the
SSD is large enough, the CPU and RAM are sufficient, the gains from decrappifying it would be very small.

Good luck if you carry on.

Ed

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 02/01/2025 15:19, Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

John C. wrote:

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly: >>>>>
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and
set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task >>>>> Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's >>>>> listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the >>>>> listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it >>>>> start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up >>>>> list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer? >>>>> It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing >>>>> from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the
Search
application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Which I have now removed from my system by using OO Appbuster:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

However, this application does not list "News and interests" as an
installed "app" (God, I hate that term.) Might be listed as something
else there, but I haven't been able to figure out what that might be.

I do know though, that "News and interests" runs from the following
location:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button >>>> maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who
seldom
co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues >>>> (rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click
Taskbar,
News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another
possible
culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Those three settings are all in the off position and grayed out.
Presumably because I set the GPE/Local Computer Policy/Computer
Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/News and
interests/Enable news and interests on the taskbar set to "Disabled".

And yet, the miserable S.O.B. still shows up in the Task Manager as
running in the background. I can kill the process, but after a while
(probably deliberately designed to fool me into thinking it won't) it
restarts.

I'm still unable to find the setting and disable it to allow me to
prevent this nonsense. All I know is that this is the location of the
Search process that N&I runs:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

Eh... make that:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchApp.exe >>

And as a side note, I see that containing folder also has inside it:

Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd

and:

Cortana.Search.winmd

I uninstalled Cortana. What the HELL are these files doing there? Are
they simply orphan files or are they still active and doing something?

Copilot told me that "The file Cortana.Search.winmd is part of the
Windows Search application, which is why it's still present in the
SystemApps folder.  This file is related to the Windows Search
functionality and not specifically to Cortana."

Copilot says pretty much the same thing about the
Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd file.

You're doing well, John. I have to admire your efforts. But a couple of reservations have been pointed out to me by a good friend at the bar of
a good pub.
Firstly, when Win10 has a major update, all your efforts could well just
be wiped out.
Secondly, you might cripple the OS with your efforts, and not find out
until later when damage has been done.
Thirdly, there's a kind of obsessive compulsion in it all. Sigmund Freud wrote about "anal retentive personalities".
Fourthly, it consumes so much time.

My mate has always been a good mate, and he's educated and intelligent.
I've taken advice from him before. So I'm leaving my system alone; the
SSD is large enough, the CPU and RAM are sufficient, the gains from decrappifying it would be very small.

Yes, but they are stealing his bandwidth.



--
Regards
wasbit

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

John C. wrote:

Ed Cryer wrote:

John C. wrote:

"News and interests" in Windows 10 runs the Search application thusly: >>>>>
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

I've disabled the button from running on my Taskbar and since I'm
running Windows 10 Pro, I also disabled it again thusly:

1. Open the Group Policy Editor
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > News and interests
3. Double-click on "Enable news and interests on the taskbar" and
set it
to "Disabled".
4. Click Apply and OK.

Nonetheless, whenever I restart my computer and then check in the Task >>>>> Manager, there is News and Interests listed in the Processes tab. It's >>>>> listed as "Disabled", but still, why is it even there? If I expand the >>>>> listing, "News and interests" listing, it's shown to be running the
"Search application" (also shown as being disabled). If I leave the
"Search application" selected, I can easily click on the "End task"
button and kill both it and "News and interests".

Still, *why should I even need to do this?* I LOATH this supposed
"feature" and want it completely removed from my computer. Why does it >>>>> start every time I reboot my system? It's not listed in any Start up >>>>> list I can find.

Does anybody know what keeps starting it up when I reboot my computer? >>>>> It would be great if I could completely remove this unnecessary thing >>>>> from my system.

This is as bad as when Cortana was installed and also running the
Search
application in the background, like it or not.

Another such "feature" I would like to be able to assassinate is
Microsoft Pay.

Which I have now removed from my system by using OO Appbuster:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

However, this application does not list "News and interests" as an
installed "app" (God, I hate that term.) Might be listed as something
else there, but I haven't been able to figure out what that might be.

I do know though, that "News and interests" runs from the following
location:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

You appear to have fallen into the trap of what I call "Windows' button >>>> maze". The OS is maintained by so many different programmers, who
seldom
co-operate and frequently contradict each other, until eventually
someone is called in to try and centralise it all, -- that chaos ensues >>>> (rather as in this sentence I'm writing).

My Win10 works well with News & Interests switched off by click
Taskbar,
News and interests, select "Turn off". However there is another
possible
culprit in Taskbar settings/ Taskbar/ page down to News and interests
and switch off the three settings there.

Those three settings are all in the off position and grayed out.
Presumably because I set the GPE/Local Computer Policy/Computer
Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/News and
interests/Enable news and interests on the taskbar set to "Disabled".

And yet, the miserable S.O.B. still shows up in the Task Manager as
running in the background. I can kill the process, but after a while
(probably deliberately designed to fool me into thinking it won't) it
restarts.

I'm still unable to find the setting and disable it to allow me to
prevent this nonsense. All I know is that this is the location of the
Search process that N&I runs:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy

Eh... make that:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchApp.exe >>
And as a side note, I see that containing folder also has inside it:

Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd

and:

Cortana.Search.winmd

I uninstalled Cortana. What the HELL are these files doing there? Are
they simply orphan files or are they still active and doing something?

Copilot told me that "The file Cortana.Search.winmd is part of the
Windows Search application, which is why it's still present in the
SystemApps folder.  This file is related to the Windows Search
functionality and not specifically to Cortana."

Copilot says pretty much the same thing about the
Cortana.Internal.Search.winmd file.

You're doing well, John. I have to admire your efforts. But a couple of reservations have been pointed out to me by a good friend at the bar of
a good pub.
Firstly, when Win10 has a major update, all your efforts could well just
be wiped out.

I'm fully aware of this and have taken it into consideration. As with everything I do, there are other reasons in the background.

Secondly, you might cripple the OS with your efforts, and not find out
until later when damage has been done.

Since I can at least temporarily end the task in the Task Manager, I
don't believe that to be very likely.

Thirdly, there's a kind of obsessive compulsion in it all. Sigmund Freud wrote about "anal retentive personalities"

Ahhh.. the ultimate tactic of possibly a type B personality. Insulting accusations.

And Freud was a fool:

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/freud-was-a-fraud-a-triumph-of-pseudoscience/

Fourthly, it consumes so much time.

Yes, it does. However, the ways I spend my time and my reasons for doing
so are nobody's business but my own.

My mate has always been a good mate, and he's educated and intelligent.
I've taken advice from him before. So I'm leaving my system alone; the
SSD is large enough, the CPU and RAM are sufficient, the gains from decrappifying it would be very small.

Good luck if you carry on.

Thank you. I fully intend to do so. As I've been told by others, my "persistence is legendary."

And unfortunately, because our conversation here has become
unproductive, I will be discontinuing my investment in time by engaging
in it.

Over and out.

--
Regards,
John C.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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