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Microsoft just made your Windows 10 Taskbar a lot more useful

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Your Windows 10 taskbar is about to get a new look and feature that will help benefit your productivity. Coming over the next several weeks to Windows 10 is News and Interests, a feature that is designed to help you stay up to date by taking a glance at all the information that matters most to you.

Just like when it was in beta testing with Windows Insiders over the past few months, News and Interests lives in a new hover-over hub in the Taskbar that contains the weather. Hovering over the hub will reveal a curated mini collection of tiles with things that matter most to you, including the full weather forecast, top news stories, stocks, traffic, and even sports scores.

You don’t even need to click an app or open it — everything you need to know is right at your fingertips. That’s why Microsoft says the feature is the fastest way to stay up to date on your Windows 10 PC.

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“It should be easy to catch up on the things we care about. Yet we’re often stuck juggling devices, jumping between websites, and looking across sources before getting what we’re looking for. News and interests on the Windows taskbar simplifies this process with a convenient and personalized experience centered around you,” said Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman.

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Like the rest of Windows 10, News and Interests is fully customizable and can even be turned off. You can adjust the information cards in your experience, as well as how weather updates are shown. You can even opt to see the weather as an icon, or just as text.

Introducing news and interests on the Windows taskbar

For even more customization, you also can adjust which information cards you see, such as finance, sports, or traffic, to ensure that you only see what you care about. Customization options are available via the Microsoft News interests manager, which you can tweak to indicate which topics interest you, or which sources you want to follow.

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Microsoft made some tweaks to News and Interests in the taskbar since it was first revealed and tested with Windows Insiders, including more personalization options, improved design, and expanded markets. Microsoft says it welcomes additional feedback from those who are using it.

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Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
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