Advice Request How to disable Windows 10's News and Interests taskbar newsfeed

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The_King

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Aug 2, 2020
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As part of the May 2021 Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft introduced a new feature to Windows 10 called 'News and Interests.' If you are not a fan of the new widget, this article will explain how you can disable it, so it doesn't appear on the Windows 10 taskbar.
This feature is a taskbar news feed that displays the local forecast directly on your taskbar, and when you click or hover your mouse, it opens up a screen showing news, sports scores, and stocks based upon your interests.
disable.jpg

While the News and Interests feed is a useful tool to quickly check the weather and see the recent news, I keep accidentally opening it when I hover my mouse over it.

If the widget could be moved to the left section of my taskbar, it may be better, but Microsoft does not allow you to change the location where the News and Interests icon is displayed.

If you have similar issues with the News and Interests feed or simply do not like it, it is possible to disable it so that it does not show on your taskbar.

To disable the News and Interests widget, right-click on an empty portion of your taskbar, select 'News and interests,' and then click on 'Turn off.'
 

Stopspying

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Jan 21, 2018
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View attachment 258353

Thanks. I haven't updated to the new version of Win 10 yet but I'm pretty sure that I'll be making use of this guide. I'd rather choose what news stories I read myself than have them filtered to me by AI or whatever powers the feed, I want a wider choice than what you get when they are curated, especially in these times of more and more fake news.
 

Paul Lee

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Oct 14, 2014
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I was wondering why it didn't work for me on the only device that I updated to 21H1. I turn that abomination off by default. 🤡
My hypothesis is that you need to be logged into cortana with your microsoft account(?) so that it can provide personalized content. It would only make sense. I just want the easy access to weather truthfully & nothing more 🤐
 

show-Zi

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Jan 28, 2018
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I didn't care because I didn't see any news icons in my environment and didn't feel the need to use them.
However, the news icon appeared for the first time when it was disconnected from the Internet. The news itself is not displayed, just the icon.

When clicking on the taskbar, it seems that the news display menu does not appear unless you click exactly'Λ'.
Image50_New.jpg
 

South Park

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Jun 23, 2018
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My hypothesis is that you need to be logged into cortana with your microsoft account(?) so that it can provide personalized content. It would only make sense. I just want the easy access to weather truthfully & nothing more 🤐
I have never seen any news or similar icon in Windows 10 or Edge on 20H2, but if I open a new page in Edge it shows the local temp. in the upper corner, which I find useful. Cortana is disabled, local account only, and Andy Ful's firewall hardening rules are enabled. (Slimjet actually has a small built-in weather icon that displays the temp. and can be clicked to show a forecast based on the location entered. I haven't been able to figure out which company provides the service.)
 

plat

Level 29
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Sep 13, 2018
1,793
Definitely--if I had to choose between Firewall Hardening and News and Interests, well guess which one? But as some have already suggested, I did temporarily negate the H_C rules plus enabled Cortana, tried TairikuOkami's registry fix, etc. I'd like to have it though; it seems handy for someone who follows the News a lot.

Anyway, I submitted Feedback to Microsoft. Maybe someday it'll show up.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
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Mar 16, 2019
3,630
I installed a custom version of Windows 10 21H1 yesterday which had all the pre-installed apps pre removed, and even Windows Store wasn't present. Then after a couple restart News and Interest appear on my taskbar. Looks like Cortana is not needed for this feature. Even it doesn't seem to need Windows Store either. Before, prior to installing this custom Windows, I didn't receive the News and Interest feature. Strange :unsure:
Tagging @TairikuOkami just to let you know.
 

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