Okay, so you may know I was forced into windows . I've now had it over a year and the computer has survived. That's quite a feat considering how much I HATE THIS OS.

Anyhoo, I've managed to learn to live with a lot of things, but there are a couple I would like some help with. Every so often my keyboard will just lock up. I looked it up and discovered it's a fail safe so someone doesn't steal your identity when you stupidly walk away from your laptop in a public place. This bag of crap will never see a public place. So, does anyone know how to do away with this rage-inducing feature? I googled it and all I found was information about how to set it. I don't want to set it. I want it never, ever, ever, ever, ever to happen again.

Second, and I doubt anything can be done to stop this. Stupid, idiot cortana keeps coming up when I type. I hate her. She's more useless than Siri and Siri is seriously stupid. Is there a way to disable cortana. Or, maybe even get back the program she replaced, you know the one that would find files and programs on your computer? All she does is try to find it on the internet. Well, if I'm looking for my cat's vaccination record i scanned and stored somewhere, it's probably not going to be on the internet.

Finally, Van De Terre was really sweet a few months ago to try to help me update this crappy computer to the latest version so I could get security updates. He/She even gave me the number for Microsoft. I still haven't called them. The last time I did, I got someone with such a thick accent I couldn't understand her. I asked to be transferred to someone else, thinking that would help, but it didn't. Then the woman took control of my computer to "fix" the problem. My son had to take the computer and work on it for a week to repair the damage she did.

So, my solution was to buy a bunch of security stuff and a firewall. I hope that will be sufficient. I plan to eventually just take the stupid thing off line and buy an ipad for my interneting.

I have never heard of it

To get around Cortana and to find stuff on your PC, start typing in the start menu

Umm, how old is your PC? Since I think you need to have the latest Intel series of CPU's to get updates now... (I think)

The keyboard locking up is probably some feature you can turn off. Maybe the tip in this video works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Ka9m_yx7Q

Disable Cortana - a Google search turned this up: https://www.howtogeek.com/265027/ho...-in-windows-10/
I'm no expert on Win10 (I smartly didn't update my Win 7 laptop - because why fix something that isn't broken, or at least not as broken as 10...) - but aren't you able to do PC searches in folders, and isn't it possible to use other web browsers by starting them up?

The computer is 13 months old.

I've tried to ignore Cortana. BELIEVE ME. But, when I click on the start menu, she's still there. And all she will show me are web results. So, a search for Tweedle's vaccination records, for instance, would bring up websites about the name Tweedledee and stories about vaccinations. It's fun!

I don't have that problem ... but I have installed my own win10 on a selfbuild pc. I have been poking around in the regedit thing, it wasn't that difficult, but a bit ancious if I would ruin anything.

I got the impression it was an ancient pc, but 13 month isn't that bad.

So sorry for the double post, but it would have been too confusing to try to respond to both my helpers in one.

Thanks you for the video for fixing the locked keyboard. I've been just pulling the power cord. Since the battery has never worked (DON'T BUY A COMPUTER FROM AMAZON), this cuts all power to the computer. Then I have to let it reboot. Since this is CRAPPY WINDOWS 10, that can take an hour while it tries to download updates. That's always fun. I'll try the fix the guy talked about. I hope it works.

But what I really wanted was a way to disable that feature all together. It seems like there should be a way. Doesn't it?

And what can I say about stupid Cortana? I guess the update that won't download is the one that restricts the browser and search engine, cause I don't have that issue. The problems I have are that, as I'm typing, the side of the screen where the blasted thing is located will go dark, and up she will come, like a demon from beyond.

Unfortunately, it appears the only way to exorcise the demon is to do something to the registry. Since I can't even get SimPE to work, I have a strong feeling registry dabbling is not something I can do.

And, no, I didn't intend to buy a windows 10 computer. I ordered a windows 7, but AMAZON sent me a stupid windows 10 with a nonfunctional battery. At the time, I was in and out of the hospital and couldn't return it, though I contacted them about it several times. Finally, since the main thing I wanted to was to be able to play my sims game, my son fixed it so I could. He wanted me to keep it. He's always hated me.

Anyway, thanks to both of you for your help! I really appreciate fresh eyes willing to give me a hand.

I've never understood the urge from OS creators to add in stuff people don't want, don't need, or otherwise find extramely annoying. Windows after XP has been a very up and down ride, never quite managing to hit the mark (7 is the least annoying so far - but XP was better in several ways). Anything with the apple logo is just a slight upgrade in a slightly different wrapping, occasionally likely to self-combust at any given time, not able to run most of the programs you want/need, and/or creating other problems (I've hated macs since I was forced to use them throughout photography school - the school Macs were even worse than Windows PCs, and that's saying something - although at the time XP was still available).

Cortana is now part of Win 10, so that's why it will take a registry tweak to turn it off. However, there is a way to tell Cortana to search the local computer only, which doesn't involve registry tweaks-
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/...ndows-10-search
Can't guarantee how long that will work for, though- as Win 10 is updated on an ongoing basis, so features may change.

Thank you, Simsample. I haven't viewed it yet, but that sounds like just what I was looking for (If I couldn't kill her altogether) hehe