On Windows 10, News and Interests is a newer widget that appears on the taskbar next to the notification area. It first arrived with build 21286 for version 21H2 and build 19043.962 for version 21H1, and it is designed to give you quick access to trending news, sports, stocks, and weather information.
The idea is to keep you up to date right on your computer, so you don't have to pick up your phone to check the news and other information throughout the day.
It's a good idea in theory, but News and Interests is turned on by default, and that isn't what everyone wants, since the widget can be an unnecessary distraction. If you feel it isn't for you, the good news is that Windows 10 includes options to turn the feature off.
In this guide, you will learn the steps to turn off the News and Interests widget on Windows 10.
1. How to turn on News and Interests on Windows 10
1.1. Turn on News and Interests from the Windows 10 taskbar
To turn on the news widget in the taskbar, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the taskbar.
2. Select the News and Interests menu and click the Show icon and text option.
3. (Optional) Select the Show icon only option if you want the widget to take up less space on the taskbar.
Once you complete the steps, the widget will appear near the notification area.
1.2. Turn on News and Interests using the Registry
To turn on the News and Interests widget on the Windows 10 taskbar, follow these steps:
1. Open Start.
2. Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.
3. Browse to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionFeeds4. Right-click the Feeds key, select the New submenu, and choose the DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
5. Name the new key ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode and press Enter.
6. Double-click the newly created key and make sure the value is changed from 2 to 0 to enable News and Interests using the Show icon and text option.
7. (Optional) Double-click the newly created key and make sure the value is changed from 2 to 1 to enable News and Interests using the Show icon only option.
8. Click the OK button.
9. Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, the News and Interests widget will be available on the taskbar.
2. How to turn off News and Interests on Windows 10
2.1. Turn off News and Interests from the Windows 10 taskbar
To turn off the News and Interests widget on the taskbar, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the taskbar on Windows 10.
2. Select the News and Interests menu and choose the Turn off option.
3. (Optional) Select the Show icon only option if you want the widget to use less space on the taskbar.
Once you complete the steps, the widget will no longer be available on the taskbar.
2.2. Turn off News and Interests using the Registry
Warning: Modifying system files can damage your Windows installation if it isn't done correctly. This article assumes you know what you are doing and have already made a full backup of your computer. Proceed with caution!
To turn off the News and Interests taskbar widget using the Registry, follow these steps:
1. Open Start.
2. Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.
3. Browse to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionFeeds4. Right-click the Feeds key, select the New submenu, and choose the DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
5. Name the new key ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode and press Enter (if it's not already there).
6. Double-click the newly created key and make sure the value is changed from 0 to 2 to turn off the feature.
7. Click the OK button.
8. Restart the computer.
Once you complete the steps, the news widget will be disabled on your device.
2.3. Turn off News and Interests in the Local Group Policy Editor
Note: The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2. On the left side of the Local Group Policy Editor, click to expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and News and interests.
3. On the right side of News and interests, double-click the Enable news and interests on the taskbar policy to edit it.
4. To turn on News and Interests on the taskbar for all users, select Not Configured or Enabled, then click OK. (Not Configured is the default setting).
To turn off News and Interests on the taskbar for all users, select Disabled and click OK.
5. When you're done, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
6. Restart the explorer.exe process, sign out and back in, or restart the computer to apply the change.
Good luck!
