The weather forecast or weather widget (officially called News and Interests) in Windows 10 is one of the recent tweaks to Windows 10 by Microsoft to update the users about the latest news, events, weather updates, etc. The widget was propagated by the Windows Update channel in June 2021. The News and Interests widget is shown on the Taskbar of the system (near the system tray).

How to Disable Weather Forecast in Windows 10

Although there are users who are liking this, there is a vast majority of the users who do not like the Bing-powered News and Interests and want to disable it.

Although the process to get rid of the News and Interests widget in Windows 10 is quite simple for a common user, this can be a challenge to disable the widget over 100s of PCs for an organization's IT staff (to counter this, they can use the Registry Editor or Group Policy Editor method to disable it all across the organization).

Disable the Weather Forecast Widget Through the Taskbar of the System

  1. Right-click on the Taskbar of your system and select News and Interests.
  2. Then in the sub-menu, select Turn off and the widget will be removed from your taskbar.
    Turn off News and Interests on the Taskbar of Your System

Disable 'Open on Hover' of News and Interests

If you are one of those users who like the widget but are annoyed by its popping-up behavior when the mouse hovers over it, then you can disable hoovering and keep the widget displayed.

  1. Right-click on the Taskbar of your Windows 10 PC and click on News and Interests. If the News and Interests widget is not shown on the Taskbar menu, then make sure your system is not operating in tablet mode.
  2. Now, in the sub-menu, uncheck the option of Open on Hover and there will be no more pop-ups by the weather widget when the mouse hovers over it.
    Disable Open on Hover of News and Interests

Only Show Icon of the News and Interests Widget on the Taskbar

If you want to keep the widget but are not pleased with the precious space it has covered on the Taskbar, then you can resize it to an icon.

  1. Right-click on the Taskbar and hover over News and Interests.
  2. Then select Show Icon only and the weather widget will be resized to an icon.
    Show Only Icon of the News and Interests

Reduce Taskbar Updates of the Weather Forecast Widget

If you want to use the widget but are not happy with the internet data it is consuming (especially, if you are on a metered connection or using a mobile phone's hotspot), then you can keep the widget by configuring it to use less data.

  1. Right-click on the Taskbar and select News and Interests.
  2. Now, in the sub-menu, select Reduce Taskbar Updates.
    Reduce Taskbar Updates of News and Interests

Keep in mind that if you do not like a particular card in the News and Interests widget, you can disable the card in News and Interest by clicking on the three horizontal ellipses on the respective card and selecting Hide Card.

Disable the News and Interests Widget Through the Group Policy Editor

If you are an IT guy in your organization and have to turn off the weather on windows 10 over 100s of PCs, then you can use the group policy editor to disable the weather widget and push the policy over to all the PCs. Although this method also works for common users, it will be probably best for the users to use the Taskbar method.

  1. Click Windows, key in Group Policy Editor, and open Edit Group Policy.
    Open Group Policy Editor
  2. Now, in the Computer Configuration, navigate to the following path:
    Administrative Templates>> Windows Component>> News and interests
    Disable News and Interests on the Taskbar Through the Group Policy Editor
  3. Then, in the right half of the window, double-click on Enable News and Interests on the Taskbar and select Disabled.
  4. Now apply your changes and reboot your PC to apply the new group policy.

Disable the News and Interests Widget Through the Registry Editor of Your System

You can also use the Registry Editor to turn off the weather display on the organization level, but for a common user, it will be overkill.

Warning: Keep in mind that editing the PC's registry is a skillful job and if not done as instructed, you may cause undying damage to your data/system, so, proceed at your own risk. Also, to play safe do not forget to back up your system's registry.

  1. Click Windows, key in Registry Editor, right-click on it, and select Run as Administrator.
    Open Registry Editor as Administrator
  2. Now navigate to the following path (you can copy-paste the given address):
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds
  3. Then, in the right pane, double-click on ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode and set its value to 2.
    Set the Registry Value of ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode to 2 to Disable the News and Interests Widget
  4. Now reboot your PC after exiting the editor and upon reboot, hopefully, your issue with the weather widget is resolved.

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Kevin is a dynamic and self-motivated information technology professional, with a Thorough knowledge of all facets pertaining to network infrastructure design, implementation and administration. Superior record of delivering simultaneous large-scale mission critical projects on time and under budget.