Windows 10 was great, but it had a big problem with widgets. Widgets are small pieces of software that you can add to your desktop to make it more organized and convenient. But Windows 10 didn’t have a good way to keep track of which widgets were installed and which ones were still available for use. This made it hard to find the widget you wanted, and it was also difficult to uninstall a widget if you no longer needed it. Windows 11 solves this problem by introducing a new feature called “Themes.” Themes let you customize your desktop with different colors, fonts, and layouts. You can also add or remove widgets from the Themes menu, so you always have the perfect setup for your needs. This makes finding and using widgets much easier than before, and it makes uninstalling them easy too if you no longer need them. Overall, Windows 11 is a big improvement over Windows 10 when it comes to widgets. It’s now much easier to use and manage your desktop, so be sure to upgrade when Windows 11 becomes available! ..
Microsoft brought back widgets with the release of Windows 11, which are now in a panel accessible from the taskbar. The company isn’t done with widgets, though, and a significant fix is on the way.
Widgets on Windows 11 don’t work at all right now unless you’re logged in with a Microsoft account — otherwise, the panel is blank and you can’t see anything. Even though the company has increasingly pushed people away from using Windows without a Microsoft account (the option is hidden entirely in Windows 11), Microsoft will soon allow widgets to work without a signed in online account.
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25262 is now rolling out to Windows Insiders on the Dev Channel, which removes the Microsoft account requirement for the widgets board. The blog post explains, “you can now get weather updates on the taskbar, pin widgets from your favorite apps or access personalized dynamic feed without an account.”
There’s still a prompt at the top of the widget board to log in, but it can be hidden (at least temporarily) with a close button. Microsoft might be dropping the requirement ahead of support for third-party widgets — all the current widgets are from Microsoft, and many of them are personalized based on user data, so there was at least somewhat of an excuse for the whole panel to be locked to Microsoft accounts.
We don’t know yet when the new widget functionality will roll out to everyone on Windows 11. The same preview build also added a new ‘Video folders’ tab for Media Player, as well as a handful of bug fixes.
Source: Windows Blog
