How to Customize Your Windows 10 Newsfeed and Interests Feed on the Taskbar
The Windows 10 newsfeed and features for your taskbar are currently being rolled out as part of the operating system update KB5001391. Like the Microsoft News Bar app or Edge Personalized Reviews, the News & Interests Feed shows the latest headlines from over 4,500 news sources and a wide range of topics. But unlike these other apps, the News & Interests widget is built into the taskbar, so you can check news right from your desktop without having to download another app.
To access your news and interests, click on the weather information in the taskbar to expand the feed and see the latest headlines. The feed updates automatically, but you can also click the Refresh arrow icon to manually check for new titles. Clicking on a story opens a link in a new Edge tab.
However, the News and Interest Feed shows more than just news. You can customize your widget feed with sporting events, local weather forecasts, real-time traffic reports, stock market news, and more. Click “Manage Leads” to select the themes and sources you want to display, or click “…” in the top left corner to see the full widget settings menu.
There is also a “…” button next to each information card. Click here to share or save stories, or select “More Like Stories” or “Less Like Stories” for more widget recommendations. You can also add public “likes” and reactions to stories, just like on Facebook.
If you don’t want to use the new feed at all, right-click the News & Interests icon in the taskbar and hover over the new News & Interests box to look for an option to turn it off.
Windows 10 news and interests feed automatically appears after installing update KB5001391. However, the channel may not appear immediately – this feature also requires a server-side update, which is being deployed in stages. Microsoft says that the news and interests feed will be displayed to most people starting May 11, and that all Windows 10 users who have installed the KB5001391 update should have this feature by the end of June. Alas, there is no way to force feed, but you won’t miss out on a ton of waiting.
Microsoft uses deferred deployment to prevent widespread bugs – a wise move given that Windows updates are notorious for introducing unintended bugs and bugs. In fact, some users have stated that there is a newsfeed and interests feed issue where the widget stops working and displays a blank window. Recent Windows reports, you can restart Windows Explorer to fix it:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
- Right click on Windows Explorer.
- Select “Reset”.
Hopefully this issue is limited and Microsoft can fix it before the Newsfeed and Interests Feed becomes widely available.