How to Completely Disable ‘Widgets’ from the Windows 11 Taskbar Using Group Policy

Windows 11 introduced a dedicated “Widgets” board, accessed by hovering over the weather icon in the bottom-left corner of the taskbar. While Microsoft pitches this as a convenient hub for news, sports scores, and stock prices, many users view it as little more than a gateway for MSN tabloid clickbait and unwanted advertising.

Worse, the Widgets board is powered by an aggressive background process (Widgets.exe via Microsoft Edge WebView2) that constantly consumes RAM and network bandwidth, even when you aren’t looking at it. While you can easily hide the icon from the taskbar by right-clicking it, the background process remains alive, quietly draining resources.

To completely eradicate the Widgets system from your computer, ensuring the background processes never launch again, you must disable the feature at the enterprise level using the Local Group Policy Editor.

Important Prerequisite

The Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is only officially available on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. If you are running Windows 11 Home, you will need to use the Registry Editor instead (instructions provided at the bottom of this article).

Step 1: Open the Group Policy Editor

1. Press the Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type gpedit.msc into the text box and press Enter.
3. If prompted by User Account Control, click “Yes”.

Step 2: Navigate to the Widgets Policy

We need to access the specific folder where Microsoft stores the administrative templates for Windows components.

1. In the left-hand navigation pane, expand Computer Configuration by clicking the small arrow next to it.
2. Expand Administrative Templates.
3. Expand Windows Components.
4. Scroll down the alphabetical list and click directly on the folder named Widgets.

Step 3: Disable the Feature

1. Look at the right-hand pane. You should see a single policy named Allow widgets.
2. Double-click on Allow widgets to open its configuration window.
3. In the top-left corner of the window, change the radio button from “Not Configured” to Disabled.
4. Click Apply, then click OK.

Step 4: Verify the Eradication

Close the Group Policy Editor and restart your computer.

When Windows boots back up, you will notice three things:

1. The weather icon is permanently gone from your taskbar.
2. If you go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, the toggle switch for Widgets will be completely grayed out and unclickable.
3. If you open the Task Manager, you will see that Widgets.exe is completely absent from your active processes, freeing up valuable system memory.

Alternative for Windows 11 Home (Registry Editor)

If you are on the Home edition, you must achieve the same result via the registry.

1. Open the Run box (Win + R), type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
3. Right-click the Microsoft folder, select New > Key, and name it exactly Dsh.
4. Click on your new Dsh folder. Right-click in the empty right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it exactly AllowNewsAndInterests.
5. Ensure the value data is set to 0.
6. Reboot your PC.