How to disable news feed from Widgets on Windows 11

Yes, you can now interact with the Widgets board on Windows 11 for your widgets without the news feed, and here's how.

Widgets news feed disabled
Widgets news feed disabled
  • To turn off the news feed on Widgets, open the “Show or hide feeds” setting and turn off “Microsoft Start.”
  • If you’re reading this before the option is available, then you have to install the latest preview of the Windows Web Experience Package and enable the option manually using the Vivetool.

On Windows 11, you can now remove the news feed from the Widgets board, and in this guide, I’ll outline the steps to complete this process. Although the Widgets experience can provide quick access to information and perform small tasks, it mainly provides curated news from the new MSN news network, which usually only provides marketing-optimized, political, and unwanted content.

However, this is expected to change as the company plans to add an option to allow users to turn off the news feed. If you want to have early access to the option, you can update the Widgets experience to the latest preview version that includes the option to get rid of unwanted content while continuing to have access to your widgets.

In this guide, I will outline the steps to turn off the news feed for the Widgets feature on Windows 11.

Important: These instructions require downloading a preview version of the Widgets app and turning on a specific feature on Windows 11 to make the new setting available. While this is a non-destructive process, creating a backup of your computer is always recommended before proceeding.

Turn off news from Widgets on Windows 11 (preview)

To remove the news feed from the Widgets board on Windows 11, use these steps:

  1. Open the rg-adguard.net website.

  2. Select the Productid option, paste this 9MSSGKG348SP ID, select the “Fast” option, and click the Check button.

  3. Right-click the MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience_523.33200.0.0_neutral_~_cw5n1h2txyewy.AppxBundle link and select the Save as link option to save the app package.

    Windows Web Experience Package download

  4. Open the Downloads folder.

  5. Double-click the Msixbundle file to update the Widgets feature.

  6. Click the Update button.

    Windows Web Experience Package update

  7. Open GitHub website to download the ViveTool.

  8. Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file.

  9. Double-click the zip folder to open it with File Explorer.

  10. Click the Extract all button.

    Extract ViveTool files

  11. Click the Extract button.

  12. Copy the path to the folder.

  13. Open Start.

  14. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

  15. Type the following command to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter:

    cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x

    In the command, remember to change the path to the folder with your path.

  16. Type the following command to enable the “Show or hide feeds” setting and press Enter:

    vivetool /enable /id:45393399

    ViveTool disable news for Widgets

  17. Restart the computer.

  18. Open Widgets (Windows key + W).

  19. Click the Settings button in the top-right corner.

  20. Click the “Show or hide feeds” setting.

    Show or hide feeds setting

  21. Turn off the Microsoft Start toggle switch to disable news.

    Widgets disable news feed

  22. Click the Turn off button.

Once you complete the steps, the news feed will turn off in the Widgets board, and you will have access to experience to interface with the available widgets, including weather, Outlook calendar, To Do, Traffic, Photos, etc.

Windows 11 Widgets without news feed
Windows 11 Widgets without a news feed

These instructions help you to get early access to the changes, but after the update for Widgets rolls out to everyone, you will only have to turn off the news from the “Show or hide feeds” setting. So, if you’re not in a rush, you can always wait until the update arrives automatically.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.