Microsoft Windows 11 Update Will Bring Notifications Feature For Widgets

This week, Microsoft will begin releasing a taskbar notification system for its Windows 11 widgets. Although the weather widget made a comeback in Windows 11 earlier this year, it has primarily remained a static experience that shows an umbrella icon when it’s raining and a sunny indicator when it’s nice and bright outdoors. All of that will change as soon as Microsoft pushes the updates with live animations this week.

The Windows Web Experience Pack, which drives Microsoft’s widgets feature, has been updated. As a result, all Windows 11 users will begin to see these new widget alerts in the upcoming days and weeks. The taskbar weather widget displays notifications as live animations that include ticker alerts for up-and-down stock prices and alerts for thunderstorms.

The company explains in a support article, “When something important happens related to one of your other widgets, you may see an announcement from that widget on your taskbar. These announcements are meant to be quick and glanceable, and if you don’t interact with them, the taskbar will return to showing you the weather.”

These notifications may occasionally be annoying, and Microsoft doesn’t seem to provide a simple option to turn them off. Given that we can customise news items inside the main widgets panel, perhaps the company will include a setting to deactivate them in the next releases.

In addition, Microsoft is introducing the following improvements in the Windows 11 22H2 build—new app folders in the Start menu, drag and drop on the taskbar, new touch gestures, and more. The company plans to release the upcoming major OS update on September 20, 2022.