Microsoft is about to make the Windows 10 taskbar a lot more useful and in a neat, non-distracting way. Ever found yourself opening a new browser tab to check the latest news or match score, or launching an app to see the weather info while working? I do it, a lot. Thankfully, Microsoft is adding a collapsible news and interests feed to the Windows 10 taskbar that is just a click away and won’t push your ongoing workflow to the background.
Currently available for Windows Insiders only
“With news and interests on the Windows taskbar, you get quick access to an integrated feed of dynamic content such as news and weather that updates throughout the day,” explains Microsoft. The news and interests feed has arrived with the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21286 that is being rolled out for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.
The news and interests feed can be fully personalized to show you news headlines, sports updates, weather information, and a lot more. Microsoft says the feed can be populated with content from over 4,500 international publications that include the likes of The New York Times and BBC to name a few.
The news and interests feed is customizable
And the best part is that when you click on an article, it opens in a ‘streamlined reading view’ with minimal distractions so that your workflow remains intact. And in case you don’t find it interesting, just right click on the taskbar to turn off the news and interests feed.
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Users can register their preference for the kind of stories they like in their news and interests feed on the Windows 10 taskbar with dedicated “More stories like this” or “Fewer stories like this” buttons. Additionally, the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard offers controls that will allow users to see and limit ad-tracking.
Users will need to have Edge browser on their system though
As mentioned above, the new news and interests feed on the Windows 10 taskbar is only rolling out with the Build 21286 for Windows Insiders. And to make it work, users are required to install the latest build of Microsoft’s Edge browser that is based on the Chromium engine. It must also be noted that the new feature is currently limited to testers in Australia, Canada, India, UK, and the US.
The latest Windows 10 update also makes it extremely easy to create a storage pool or manage a disk, which means you no longer have to struggle with the whole partition fuss. All this can be done from the Storage Spaces inside the Settings app, as you can see in the GIF above.