Remove Unwanted Widgets

Owned by George Chen
Oct 17, 2024
3 min read

Remove Unwanted Widgets/Icons from Taskbar

Microsoft includes extra icons in the Taskbar that you may not require such as Search, Widgets and Task view. Follow these instructions to remove these features:

 

  1. Press the windows key and type in settings, then click enter.

 

  1. On the left sidebar, click on Personalization.

 

  1. Scroll down until you find Taskbar, then click it.

 

  1. Under the heading Taskbar items, there should be four buttons with the last three having switches to toggle their appearance in the taskbar. Click on the switch to remove or include the widget in the taskbar.

 

  1. For search, click on the drop-down menu and click Hide.

 

  1. For the icons, scroll down to find System tray icons below Taskbar items and turn off any unwanted icons.

 

 

  1. For Touch keyboard, change the setting to Never or When no keyboard attached.

 

 

If you want to know which icons to turn off or leave, here is a short description of each one:

  1. Search: Allows you to search your computer for files, apps and the internet. You can also access this by simply pressing the Windows key or opening the Start menu.

  2. Copilot in Windows (preview): Microsoft’s very own AI assistant. You can choose to keep this if you want to use it in your tasks. However, it does consume some computer power so if you aren’t going to use it, turning if off will greatly improve the speed of your computer.

  3. Task view: Allows you to see all open windows and switch between desktops.

  4. Widgets: A customizable panel that you can add various apps including news and weather for easier access. You can use the taskbar button or Windows + W to access this panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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