I switched to Windows 11 back when it launched in 2021, and while I didn't love it at first, I've grown pretty comfortable with Microsoft's changes over the last few years.
Lots of Windows diehards never got over the company's decision to center the Start button and lock down the taskbar, but that never bothered me much. No, what really ended up grinding my gears was the little breaking news and weather widget that Microsoft smooshed into the corner of the taskbar.
It's hardly an eyesore, but I find it really distracting when I'm trying to work and think it ought to be disabled by default. I can just look out the window to gauge the weather, for example, and I'd rather go read my own news when I'm curious than trust in Microsoft's flimsy News widget to pick which stories I read.
You can easily remove the news and weather widget from your Windows 11 taskbar and put it back only when you want it, but the process of doing so isn't self-evident. In this brief guide I’ll quickly walk you through how to remove the Windows 11 news and weather widget.
Note that this guide is for Windows 11. If you're still running Windows 10, check out our guide to How to remove the Windows 10 news and weather widget!
How to remove the Windows 11 news and weather widget
- Right-click your Windows 11 taskbar
- Click on Taskbar Settings to open the taskbar settings menu
- Click the Widgets toggle to disable (or enable) the news and weather widgets
- (Optional) Fine-tune what Widgets you see with the settings menu
Read on to get detailed instructions for each step.
1. Right-click your Windows 11 taskbar
It's pretty easy to mess with the news and weather widget once you know that clicking on it does nothing. To change its behavior, first you need to right-click your Windows 11 taskbar so that you can access the taskbar settings menu.
2. Click on Taskbar Settings to open the taskbar settings menu
Next, click the Taskbar Settings option in the context menu to open your taskbar settings menu.
3. Click the Widgets toggle
This menu is where the controls for your taskbar Widgets are actually hidden. To disable the Windows 11 news widget, simply click the toggle button next to the Widgets option.
Obviously, you can click it again to turn them back on again if you change your mind. There are some other options in this menu you can use to further customize your Windows 11 taskbar's appearance, but if you want to refine what actually appears in the Widget area there's one more menu to know.
4. (Optional) Fine-tune what Widgets you see with the settings menu
To further refine your Windows 11 Widgets, click the widget pane on your Start menu to summon the widgets board from the side of your screen.
Next, click the gear icon in the top corner of the board to access the Widget Settings menu, where you can customize which news sources show up in your feed, modify the widget board and much more.
Congratulations, you're now a Windows 11 Widgets power user!
That's all there is to it! Take some time to play around with the Widgets options and see what they can do for you — I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much use you can get out of Windows 11's built-in features.
For more Windows 11 help, learn how to restart Windows 11, how to take screenshots in Windows 11 and how to move the taskbar in Windows 11!
