[Tips] Customize or Remove “News and Interests” (Weather) Widget in Windows 10 Taskbar

Newer versions of Windows 10 operating system (21H1 and 20H2/2004 with KB5003214 update installed) come with a brand new feature called “News and Interests“. This feature adds a new Weather forecast widget or icon to Windows 10 Taskbar. The icon displays current weather update information for the selected region.

When the user moves and hovers the mouse cursor over the weather icon or clicks on the weather button, a flyout or panel opens showing latest news stories feed.

Following screenshot shows News and Interests feature live in action in Windows 10:

In this article, we’ll share tips to customize News and Interests feature as well as remove its icon or button from Windows 10 Taskbar.

Let’s start the tutorial.

1. Show or Hide News and Interests Icon on Windows 10 Taskbar

Right-click on News and Interests icon or empty area on Taskbar and click on News and Interests menu.

You’ll see following 3 options:

• Show icon and text
• Show icon only
• Turn off

By default, “Show icon and text” option is selected which shows both icon as well as weather information in Taskbar.

If you want to disable weather information and only want to show News and Interests icon in Taskbar, select “Show icon only” option. It’ll remove weather information text from the Taskbar.

If you want to completely disable and remove News and Interests icon from Taskbar, select “Turn off” option and it’ll permanently delete News and Interests icon.

2. Reduce Number of Update Requests to Save Internet Bandwidth

You can force News and Interests to perform less requests to retrieve current weather information and latest news feed. It’ll save your Internet connection bandwidth.

Right-click on News and Interests icon or empty area on Taskbar and click on News and Interests menu.

Now select “Reduce taskbar updates” option in the context menu.

That’s it. It’ll decrease number of requests by News and Interests widget in your device.

3. Disable News and Interests Flyout Automatically Opening on Mouse Hover

If you are annoyed by this behavior of News and Interests feature which automatically launches the news feed flyout whenever you hover mouse cursor over its icon, you can turn off this feature.

Right-click on News and Interests icon or empty area on Taskbar and click on News and Interests menu.

Now uncheck or deselect “Open on hover” option.

Now when you’ll hover mouse cursor over News and Interests icon in Taskbar, it’ll no longer show the flyout. You can click on the icon to show the news feed flyout.

Also Check:

[Tip] Completely Disable and Remove “News and Interests” Feature in Windows 10