Ed Bott - Windows 10 Support Secrets

21 CHAPTER 2 | Personalizing the Windows 10 experience Figure 2-3: As you type in the search box, the list of results updates immediately. Use the icons just above the search box or click a category to show just those results. If you know the exact category of the item you’re searching for, you can refine the search by using the row of icons just above the search box to pick that category. Most of the icons are fairly obvious, but if you’re puzzled, just move your mouse pointer over one to see what it stands for. Based on that description, the behavior of the Windows 10 search box isn’t all that different from what you and your users have become accustomed to in previous Windows versions. But all that changes as soon as you flip the On switch for Cortana, Microsoft’s intelligent personal assistant. With Cortana on, keyword-based searches continue to work as expected. But Cortana also has a few extra tricks up her sleeve. And yes, “her” is the right pronoun to use here. Cortana is named after a female character in the popular game Halo, and she communicates with a very natural-sounding female voice if you ask a question.