Microsoft’s new ‘news and interests’ Taskbar widget will come to Windows 10 version 21H1, 20H2, and 2004

Microsoft is bringing a new widget to the Taskbar on older versions of Windows 10.

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What you need to know

Microsoft has released a new preview build for the next version of Windows 10, known as version 21H1 and expected to ship publicly this spring. Today’s preview build introduces Microsoft’s new ‘news and interests’ Taskbar flyout, which puts the weather forecast and news headlines right on the Taskbar.

Interestingly, the widget will also be coming to version 20H2 and version 2004, though Microsoft doesn’t say when this will ship publicly.

The company has been testing this news and interests widget in the Insider Dev Channel for some months. Originally, it was believed the feature would ship in the fall with 21H2, but it appears Microsoft will now ship the feature much earlier, spanning all the way back to version 2004 instead.

21H1 overall will be a minor update for Windows 10, being based on the 2004 release that shippped last spring. 21H1 so far includes the ability to choose an external Windows Hello webcam for login, and other minor enteprise-related enhancements.

Here’s the full changelog for build 19043.983, which rolled out in the Beta and Release Preview channels today:

As always, check out theWindows Blogfor the complete breakdown from Microsoft.

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Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch onTwitterandThreads