Microsoft is bringing its “news and interests” taskbar widget to older versions of Windows 10, including version 21H1, 20H2, and 2004. The company announced with the release of the build 19043.962, which is an update for version 21H1.
Initially, the feature was expected to arrive with version 21H2 since it was available through the Dev Channel. However, none of the changes in the Dev Channel are tied to any specific release. As a result, the company has decided that news and interests will roll out alongside version 21H1 this spring. In addition, since version 21H1 has the same file system as versions 20H2 and 2004, the company is also expected to bring the widget to these older releases.
What’s the news and interests taskbar widget?
The “news and interests” feature is a widget that appears on the left side of the taskbar to give you a quick view of the current weather. You can glance at the content by simply hovering over the button, which opens an experience similar to the Windows 10 Start menu with different sections surfacing news, sports, stocks, weather, and other information.
The idea with the widget is to keep you engaged on the device instead of breaking the workflow by reaching out to your phone to peek at the same information.
You can scroll up and down to view the latest information, and you can always click the “See more news” button to open the MSN homepage to see more curated news.
There’s a refresh button at the top-right to update the feed, and the “Manage interests” button will take you to your online account to customize the experience.
You can also click the menu button on a story to access the options to share, save, or train the feature to see more or fewer similar content. Also, you can hide the story, publication, or report as an issue.
If the feature isn’t for you, it’s possible to disable news and interests from the taskbar, or you can decide whether to open it using a mouse hover or clicking the widget button.
Update April 22, 2021: Microsoft has officially announced that will start rolling out the “news and interests” widget in the coming weeks for devices running Windows 10 version 1909, 2004, 20H2, and higher releases.
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.