Windows 11 launched with a brand-new widgets panel that could be accessed from the taskbar. That hasn’t changed, but it appears on the taskbar as the weather now instead of a regular icon. If you’re not a fan, you can easily remove weather from the taskbar in Windows 11.
Here is how.
Remove Weather from Taskbar in Windows 11
This was a bit easier to do in Windows 10, like many other things related to the taskbar. The widgets button functions similar to the News and interests feature on Windows 10. The widgets panel itself contains actual widgets in addition to News and interests.
On Windows 11, taskbar icons appear in the center by default. This leaves way too much room on the left and not so much on the right, which is occupied by essential system info. The weather, therefore, appears on the left on Windows 11 while it appeared on the right on Windows 10. To hide weather on the taskbar, follow the steps below.
- Open the Settings app by pressing Windows + I and navigate to Personalization > Taskbar.
- Alternatively, you can simply right-click on the Taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
- Turn off the Widgets toggle under Taskbar items.
That’s all you have to do to remove weather from taskbar in Windows 11. If you change your mind and want to put weather back in the taskbar, you simply have to turn on the same toggle. If you prefer your taskbar icons on the left, weather appears next to the task view button instead of the left.
Microsoft released the News and interests feature in the taskbar on Windows 10, a little before the release of Windows 11. The feature made it to Windows 11 in the form of a separate widgets panel.
Unlike Windows 10, the Windows 11 taskbar does not really have much of a context menu. This means getting into Taskbar settings is the only way to customize the taskbar in any way. But if you’re using Windows 10, you still have an easy option to remove weather from taskbar.
Related: How to Show and Customize Windows 10 Weather Widget in Taskbar
How to Access Widgets Panel?
Since the taskbar, weather is the way to access the widgets panel, once you hide it, you cannot access the widgets panel. At least not by clicking something. But you can still access the widgets with the Windows + W keyboard shortcut.
Related: How to Turn Windows 11 Taskbar Into Mac Like Dock
You can remove weather from taskbar on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. On Windows 10, you can do this by right-clicking the taskbar and turning off News and interests while on Windows 11, you have to turn off the Widgets toggle in Taskbar settings.
The Widgets button on the Windows 11 taskbar now appears as weather info. You can remove widgets as before by simply turning off the toggle in Taskbar settings.