Windows 10 comes with a feature called Cortana to compete with the Siri of Apple iOS and Google Now of the Google Android OS. However unlike the other two rivals, Cortana is not available for everyone across the world. Cortana is enabled in Windows 10 only of you live inside the United States. For everyone else, Cortana is disabled and the Cortana search box in the Windows taskbar is turned into a simple web or local search box. You can use this search box to search the internet using the Bing search engine and to search the local items like files, links, settings or apps etc. But you can search web from any web browser and you can perform local search through the Start button – why then keep the search box in the taskbar?
If you live outside the United States and the Cortana is not available for you, then it is a good idea to hide the search box altogether and free up space on the Windows taskbar. In order to do so, all you have to do is right-click anywhere on the taskbar and select Search → Hidden from the context-menu that shows up.
This will instantly hide the search box in the taskbar. But if you do not want to completely hide the search box, you have another option. You can choose Search → Show search icon from the taskbar right-click menu to turn the search box into a small icon.
Through the both search icon and the search box, you can perform searches of your local settings, apps or files as well as perform web search.
Conclusion: If the Windows 10 Cortana is not available in your region, then it is better to hide the search box from the taskbar altogether. Windows 10 allows you to either hide the search box or turn it into a small icon.