I determined that my problem had to do with autohotkey interference. All that remains is that the default hot key brings up cortana. But I was able to change it to ctrl q, and use it normally.
Windows 10 experience
Addenda to last post: When clocking on 'X' on title bar, the window that is given...
3.20.54.00 on Windows 8.1. Clicking on 'X' at top of title bar never closes the quick...