If you want to get things done on Windows 10 without living a finger, say hello to Cortana.
Microsoft's virtual assistant lets you complete everyday PC tasks using voice commands.
I'll show you how to optimize the setup and I'll share some of the most useful voice commands.
To get started, there are two ways to launch Cortona.
You can either hit Window C, or you can use the command, hey Cortona, but you'll have to set that up.
So head over to the search bar, click it and then go to your notebook.
settings, and turn on this Hey Cortana option.
The only potential problem is that Cortana will respond to anyone who says Hey Cortana, so you might want to change her to only listen to your voice.
OK, lets get started.>>Now that you know how to get Cortana to listen, you can start bossing her around.
If you already use a virtual assistant on your iPhone like Siri or Google Now or even Cortona on your Windows phone you probably already know a lot of the commands that will work with Cortona on your PC.
So, here are a few examples.
Hey Cortona, what's the weather?
[SOUND]
Right now, it's 72 and sunny.
[SOUND] Photos of puppies
[SOUND]
Remind me to call the doctor tomorrow at 9am.
Sure thing.
Remind you to call the doctor at 9am tomorrow.
Is that right?
Yes.
Great!
If you ever want to manage or manually enter reminders, you can do so by hitting the light build in Cortona's interface.
You can also dig around the system with commands like.
Show me photos I took in November 2014.
[MUSIC]
And there they are.
And you can launch apps and setting by saying, launch settings.
All right.
Which one do you want?
1, Settings.
Or 2, Lenovo Settings.
[SOUND] One.
Starting settings.
You'll mostly use Cortana for voice commands, but there's also an informational dashboard you can view by clicking the Search bar.
It's works a lot like Google Now, showing you the latest news and weather, but also information about your upcoming flights or deliveries.
If you wan to get in there and customize the dashboard you can do that by going back to the Notebook, and go through all of these categories and adjust your settings.
For instance, I can go to Eat & Drink, and I'll head down and tell Cortana what type of cuisines I like.
Let's hit Italian Add it, and from now on Cortana will show me more restaurant recommendations that are of the Italian variety.
There is a lot more Cortana can do, but hopefully this gives you a solid primer to get started.
You can also check out more Windows 10 tips, plus some Cortana Easter eggs at cnet.com.
[MUSIC]
