Microsoft announced in 2026 that it will hide the MSN news feed in Windows 11’s widgets panel by default, marking a significant change to how the feature behaves out of the box. The company said the update is part of a broader push to make widgets “quiet by default.”
“We’re working to make Widgets feel less distracting and overwhelming by making the experience quiet by default,” Microsoft said. “To do this, we’re testing a new set of default settings designed to reduce unexpected alerts and visual interruptions.”
The changes include disabling the widgets panel from opening when a user hovers over its taskbar icon, turning off taskbar badges by default, and opening the widgets panel to actual widgets rather than the MSN feed. Microsoft will also limit taskbar alerts until users actively choose to engage with the widgets experience.
Microsoft had allowed Windows 11 users to manually disable the MSN feed more than two years before this announcement, but the feed remained on by default until now. The widgets section had routinely surfaced unsolicited notifications for stocks, weather, and MSN news, which many users found intrusive.
The widgets update is one part of Microsoft’s ongoing effort to refine Windows 11 throughout 2026. The company is also removing what it describes as unnecessary Copilot buttons from apps, modernizing the Run prompt, fixing File Explorer performance, and reducing the memory footprint of Windows. These changes are rolling out on a monthly basis.
For everyday users, the shift could make the Windows 11 taskbar less disruptive and may encourage greater use of the widgets feature, which has largely been ignored since the operating system’s launch.
Source: The Verge