Summary
- Disabling the widgets panel through the Settings app only removes its icon from the taskbar, but its services keep running in the background.
- You can execute a command in an elevated Command Prompt window to completely remove the widgets panel.
- On Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions, you can also use the Local Group Policy Editor to disable widgets.
The widgets panel on Windows 11 gives you quick access to information like news, weather, stocks, and more. However, I really don’t like it, as it takes up a good amount of taskbar space and often interferes with my workflow by popping up unexpectedly. If you also don’t find the widgets panel helpful, here’s how you can disable it completely.
Windows 11 comes with a long list of annoyances, one of which is the widgets panel. Thankfully, Microsoft is aware that not everyone will use this menu, which is why there is an option to disable it. To disable the Widgets panel, open the Settings app in Windows 11, go to “Personalization,” select “Taskbar,” and then turn off the “Widgets” toggle.
That’s about it. The widgets panel will disappear from the taskbar. However, there’s a big catch here that you should be aware of.
Turning off the widgets toggle in the Settings app only removes the widgets panel from the taskbar; all the widget-related services still run in the background. To check this, open the Task Manager, select “Processes” from the left sidebar, and type widget in the search field. The results will display widget services, confirming that they are still running in the background. You do have the option to right-click the services and choose “End Task” from the menu that appears. However, this is only a one-time solution, as the services will restart the next time you boot your computer.
Usually, you won’t face any issues because of these widget services, but if you have a low-power device, you will definitely not appreciate any extra services running in the background, as they’ll put additional strain on your computer and ultimately affect the performance of other important applications.
That said, if you want to completely get rid of the widget panel and disable its related services, you can use the two methods mentioned below.
The best way to completely remove the widgets panel in Windows 11 is to execute a command in the Command Prompt window. To do this, open the Start menu, type Command Prompt in the search bar, and choose the “Run as Administrator” option. Click “Yes” on the UAC prompt that appears.
In the elevated Command Prompt window, type winget uninstall “Windows web experience Pack” and press Enter. This will uninstall the Windows Web Experience Pack, which is responsible for delivering and updating certain features, such as widgets.
Once the command is executed, restart your computer and open the Task Manager. You will find that no widget-related services are running in the background.
In the future, if you want to re-enable the widgets panel on your computer, or if you find something malfunctioning because the Web Experience Pack is missing, go to the Microsoft Store and download the Windows Web Experience Pack. After that, enable the Widgets toggle in the Windows Settings menu, and the widgets panel will reappear on the taskbar.
You can also use the Local Group Policy Editor to disable the widgets panel on Windows 11. This method, however, only works on the Windows Pro, Education, and Enterprise editions, as the Local Group Policy Editor is officially available only on these versions. Unless you have made certain tweaks to enable it on your Windows Home device, it will not be accessible there.
Open the Start menu, type Edit Group Policy in the search field, and press Enter. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets.
Double-click the “Allow Widgets” policy, and choose “Disabled” in the window that appears. Click “Apply” and then “OK” to save the changes.
Next, double-click the “Disable Widgets Board” policy, and select “Enabled.” Click “Apply,” then “OK.” You can also configure the “Disable Widgets On Lock Screen” policy if you don’t want widgets to appear on your Windows lock screen.
In the future, if you want the widgets panel back on your taskbar, you will need to reverse the changes you made.
This was all about how you can completely get rid of the widgets panel on your Windows 11 computer. I’m not completely against widgets; in fact, I use them a lot on my Android smartphone. However, the Windows 11 widgets panel still needs a lot of improvement.
I really love the Mac desktop widgets, and I hope that Microsoft adopts a similar approach. Instead of providing a dedicated widgets panel, Microsoft should allow users to pin specific widgets to different empty spaces on the desktop.