Latest Windows 10 Insider build lets you turn off your PC with your voice

Cortana, Microsoft's Personal assistant for Windows 10 devices, has just gotten a little cooler. (Source: Microsoft)

Windows 10 Insider Build 14986 has introduced a number of additional voice commands for Cortana, including sleeping, restarting, shutting down, and changing volume.

Douglas Black, 12/09/2016

Windows Insider Preview 14986, just released to users in the fast ring, adds a few notable features. Cortana is now able to lock, sleep, restart, and shut down your computer, as well as control music playback (only available in English, at the moment) with TuneIn or iHeartRadio.

According to release notes on the Windows Experience Blog, Music playback can be controlled even on the lockscreen using voice commands with the following syntax:

Play <Frequency/Call Letters> on <AppName>
Play <Artist/Track/Title/Genre> on <AppName>

The continued updates to Cortana, such as displaying Cortana full-screen when idle for better long-distance viewing, hint that Microsoft might be optimizing Cortana for its Home Hub products.

The update also contains a slew of other improvements, including Ink, Update, Regedit, and many more. If you're interested, check out the full list of changes on the Windows Experience Blog here.