The Windows 10 taskbar just got a big upgrade

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft'south Windows ten taskbar update, which adds a customizable "News and Interests" widget, is finally on its way to regular users.

The widget, which opens up a panel of tiles showing personalized news, weather condition, traffic, stocks and sports information, was first revealed in Jan as office of the Windows ten Insider plan. It will brainstorm rolling out to Windows x proper "over the side by side several weeks," according to the Windows Weblog.

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Whereas previous versions of Windows chaotic up the Beginning menu with various news and weather tiles, which could also be personalized if you agreed to share sure personal details, News and Interests hides more than subtly in the course of a conditions icon to the right side of the Windows x taskbar. Clicking on this icon will bring upwardly an expanded window with the full set of tiles.

These tiles bring in news stories from beyond MSN, including sources like U.s.a. Today, Quartz, Business concern Insider, Pol and NBC Sports. Clicking on a story will open a "streamlined reading experience," as opposed to opening the story in a full browser window, though you lot will need the Microsoft Edge browser installed for the characteristic to work.

Central to News and Interests is the power to fine-tune your content preferences so you only receive stories and updates on subjects you care almost. Then y'all can filter out sports or stocks content, for example, or select specific topics that you'd want to read more about.

You can even personalize the aforementioned weather condition icon, and choose whether to accept it show with or without actress text detailing the current weather in your area. Hovering over the icon will too provide a picayune actress conditions data without opening the entire News and Interests window.

While some users volition likely adopt not to share any more of their personal information with Microsoft, this taskbar update does seem like a handy little upgrade ahead of the much bigger Windows 10 Sunday Valley update tipped for later this year. That said, hopefully Microsoft has found a way to reduce News and Involvement's RAM usage, which could reportedly eat up to 150MB of memory.

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James joined Tom's Guide in 2020, bringing years of experience in consumer tech and product testing. As Audio Editor, James covers headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes noise. A PC enthusiast, he also covers the occasional spot of calculating and gaming news, usually relating to how hard information technology is to notice graphics card stock.