In Windows 11, Microsoft anchored a Widgets board directly to your taskbar. By default, it manifests as a live weather icon sitting on the far left side of your screen (or next to your centered icons). Clicking it—or even accidentally hovering your mouse over it—summons a massive, screen-filling panel packed with MSN news articles, sports scores, stock tickers, and traffic updates.
For users who prefer a clean, focused workspace, this massive tabloid-style news feed is incredibly distracting and consumes unnecessary background memory as it constantly polls the internet for updates. If you do not care about Microsoft’s curated news feed, you can completely unpin the Widgets board and remove the weather icon from your taskbar.
How to Remove the Widgets Board from the Windows 11 Taskbar
You can hide the entire Widgets ecosystem directly from your taskbar personalization settings.
- Right-click on any empty space on your Windows 11 Taskbar.
- Select Taskbar settings from the small pop-up menu.
- The Settings app will open directly to the Personalization > Taskbar page.
- Look for the section titled Taskbar items at the top of the window.
- Locate the setting labelled Widgets.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
The weather icon will immediately vanish from your taskbar. You can no longer accidentally trigger the massive news feed by bumping the edge of your screen with your mouse, allowing you to maintain a clean, distraction-free desktop environment.