Widgets (23H2)

Windows 11 includes a news and interests feed called Widgets that consists of a Widgets button on the Taskbar and a widget board that displays widgets and news and interests content cards.

Widgets appear as cards of dynamic information culled from Microsoft's online services in the leftmost column of the widget board. News and interests content cards display mostly low-quality news and general interest stories, much of which comes from Microsoft Start, interspersed with the occasional advertisement. These appear in the rightmost two columns of the widget board by default.

Widgets and news and interests content cards are both configurable to some degree, and the latter lets you customize the content types and sources you see so the widget board will (allegedly) become more useful the more you use it. But in over two years of experience, we have never witnessed this miracle.

Additionally, the Widgets button on the Taskbar will typically display the weather forecast, but it can also display breaking news bulletins and other information.
Widgets is an evolution of the News & interests feature from Windows 10.
The problem with Widgets
Before we discuss how to use and configure Widgets, we need to take a step back and examine how Microsoft is using this feature to drive the usage of its other products and services. Unfortunately, this is the real reason that Windows 11 includes Widgets.

First, Widgets forces you to use Microsoft Edge, even if you've configured another web browser as the default. There's no way to configure Widgets to open new and interests stories in any browser other than Microsoft Edge.

Second, you can't configure Widgets to access news and interests stories and other content from any other source other than Microsoft Start. You're stuck with what Microsoft provides.

If you find this behavior objectionable, you will need to balance your usage of Widgets with the knowledge that Microsoft is using this feature to gain an unfair advantage over its web browser, web search, advertising, and content aggregator competition. Or, you can simply choose to not use Widgets.

We explain how you can remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar later in the chapter. But if you like its weather display, you can also keep using the Widgets icon but prevent Widgets from opening if you accidentally mouse-over it. We also explain how to do that later in the chapter.
View the weather forecast, news bulletins, and widget notifications
The Widgets icon can be found on the far left of the Taskbar and while it typically displays the local weather forecast, it can also display breaking news or other announcements and notification badges.

You can configure what types of information the Widgets icon displays to some degree. Please refer to Customize Widgets at the end of this chapter.
Open the widget board
To open Widgets and display the feed in the widget board, mouse-over or select the Widgets icon on the Taskbar.
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