Microsoft is finally making a much-needed change to the widgets experience in Windows 11 by moving away from the cluttered MSN news feed.
After giving users the option to disable it more than two years ago, the company now plans to hide the feed by default, aiming to make widgets feel less distracting and more focused.
The update is part of a broader push to create a “quiet by default” experience. Microsoft says it is testing new default settings that reduce unexpected alerts and visual interruptions, making the widgets panel cleaner and easier to use. Instead of opening to a stream of MSN news, the panel will now prioritize widgets themselves, offering a more personalized and less overwhelming layout.
Alongside this, Microsoft is also disabling the behavior where the widgets panel opens automatically when hovering over the taskbar icon. Taskbar badges and alerts, which often showed updates for stocks, weather, or news, will also be turned off by default. These changes are designed to give users more control, only showing notifications when they actively choose to engage with the widgets feature.
The update should make the taskbar feel less noisy, especially for users who find the constant updates annoying. For many, widgets had become something to avoid rather than use, largely due to the intrusive nature of alerts and the heavy focus on news content.
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