Articles about Widgets

It took Microsoft a long time to embrace widgets, but the company is now doing so wholeheartedly. While smartphone and tablet users – and, indeed, Mac owners – have developed a relationship with widgets, the same cannot be said of Windows 11 users.

But this is something Microsoft wants to change. In a move that will almost certainly prove to be popular and controversial in equal measure, the company is going to the Windows 11 lock screen to recommend widgets you might be interested in.

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Microsoft often likes to do things in a contrary fashion, particularly when it comes to Windows. But there are also times when the company sees that it doesn’t always makes sense to work against the tide, and makes changes to its software accordingly.

And this is just what has happened with the latest Release Preview build of Windows 11. This is a build that brings a lot of changes and new features, but one of the most interesting, useful and pleasing is an update to Task Manager that finally sees it complying with industry standards for the way it shows CPU usage.

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A well-designed widget can really enhance an app, helping to make it even more useful; equally, a crappy widget (or a lack of widgets) can completely ruin an otherwise perfect app. Widgets are important, and Google is finally recognizing that fact.

The company is making it easier to find Android apps that include widgets. As well as introducing a new badge to highlight widget-wielding apps in Google Play, Google is also adding the option to search specifically for apps with widgets. But it doesn't end there.

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Microsoft has introduced features like “News and Interests” and the “Copilot” AI assistant to its operating systems. The aim is to provide quick access to information and productivity tools, but not everyone appreciates those tools and plenty of people would prefer a cleaner taskbar, like we had with the likes of Windows 7.

Disabling these features can streamline the desktop interface and potentially improve system performance. This guide will show you how to remove News and Interests on Windows 10 and disable Copilot and the Widgets feature on Windows 11.

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Windows 10 may be in the later stages of its life, but Microsoft has still not given up on it. With just 18 months of support left, the company has released the KB5035941 update which adds Windows Spotlight to your desktop background as well as new lockscreen widgets.

The new additions come despite Microsoft's previous assertion that nothing new would be added to Windows 10. This non-security update also includes a number of fixes and changes, such as updates for Windows Hello for Business.

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Yesterday, Microsoft released Windows 11 Build 23419 for Insiders in the Dev Channel. Today, it’s the turn of testers in the cutting edge Canary Channel to get a new flight to play around with.

Windows 11 Build 25324 comes with an evolved widgets board that sports a larger canvas (up to three columns), with dedicated sections for widgets and feed content.

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The December 2022 Bug Bash is well underway for Windows Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels.

For insiders in the Dev channel, today also sees the arrival of a new Windows 11 build in time for the weekend. Build 25262 comes with a number of fixes and Microsoft has also dropped the sign-in requirement for the widgets board and made it available for all users.

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It’s been a big week for Microsoft already this week as yesterday the software giant began rolling out new features to some Windows 11 2022 Update users, including tabs in Explorer.

Today, the company delivers a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel. Build 25217 comes with the usual collection of fixes and improvements, but also introduces support for third party widgets.

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At its Build 2022 event, Microsoft confirmed what we have heard rumored for some time -- that third-party widgets will soon be making their way to Windows 11.

Although the company has not given an exact date, it says that "later this year" it will be possible for developers to start building their own widgets. It is possible -- probable, even -- that this will be linked to the release of the Sun Valley 2 feature update for Windows 11 in the coming months.

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The Widgets component of Windows 11 was something that seemed like a great idea on paper, but has thus far failed to generate too much excitement. This is at least in part down to the fact that only official Microsoft widgets exist -- but this is going to change.

It is looking very much like Windows 11 is going to be gaining support for third-party widgets, opening up the possibility of a wider range of genuinely useful tools coming to users. There are also hints that a widget store, called the Widget Board, is on the way.

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