Those who follow Windows updates know that monthly updates usually do not bring any significant or visible changes. Traditionally, cumulative updates for Windows fix bugs and security issues, leaving new features and capabilities to bi-yearly "big" updates. That was not the case with June 2021 cumulative updates for Windows 10. This time, updates, released on Tuesday 8, 2021, brought one new feature to all users running supported versions of Windows 10 on their PCs. That feature is "News and Interests."
Advertisеment
"News and Interests" is a new space that contains different pieces of information Microsoft may consider relevant to you. By default, it shows you the weather forecast on the taskbar, eating quite a lot of space. Luckily, you can collapse that panel to just an icon or turn off News and Interests altogether.
When expanded, News and Interests show you news headlines, traffic updates, weather information, finances, sports results, etc. You can customize News and Interests content by changing the default weather location and units, news language, or removing entire blocks of information.
By default, News and Interests open when you simply hover the cursor over the forecast on the taskbar, which lots of users find extremely annoying. Fortunately, Microsoft allows you to disable that behavior and leaving News and Interests to expand only on click. Finally, it is important to note that any content you try to open in News and Interests launches Microsoft Edge by default regardless of your default browser settings. Microsoft does not provide any official way to make News and Interest open in Chrome or Firefox, so enthusiasts had to come up with a dedicated app to fix that.
News and Interests for Windows 10 came up first in preview builds for the next feature update for the operating system from Microsoft. Later on, the company decided to bring the new panel to all supported Windows 10 versions. Microsoft started a staggered rollout of News and Interests to all users in May 2021, and now it is available for all running supported versions of Windows 10.
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!
Advertisеment
After this latest update, note that if you keep your taskbar on the top or side, the News and Interest button may not show or be buggy.
To fix this, try restarting your PC, or move the taskbar to the bottom, and then the News and Interest button should show. From there you can disable it, and then move your taskbar back to where you had it.
Otherwise, I guess Microsoft might fix this bug eventually.