Windows 10: Enable or Disable News and Interests on Taskbar using Group Policy or Registry Editor

Microsoft has announced that News and Interests will be available on the Windows taskbar in a gradual rollout to PC users in the coming weeks. The widget is designed to help Windows users stay up to date, at a glance, with weather, news, and more In this post, we will show you how to Enable or Disable News and Interests on Taskbar using Group Policy or Registry Editor.



Hide News and Interests icon on Windows 10 taskbar


If you want to simply hide the icon on the taskbar, then the procedure is simple:

1. Right-click on taskbar
2. Hover over News and Interests
3. Select the Hidden option.

Enable or Disable News and Interests on Taskbar


You can enable or disable News and Interests on Taskbar in Windows 10 in either of two quick and easy ways. We’ll explore this topic under the methods outlined below in this section:

1. Via Local Group Policy Editor
2. Via Registry Editor

Let’s take a look at the description of the step-by-step process in relation to each of the methods.

Before you begin, check for updates and ensure you’re running the latest version/build of Windows 10. This feature is still being rolled out.

1] Local Group Policy Editor




To enable or disable News and Interests on Taskbar in Windows 10 using Local Group Policy Editor, do the following:

• Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box type gpedit.msc and hit Enter to open Group Policy Editor.
• Inside the Local Group Policy Editor, use the left pane to navigate to the path below:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > News and interests

• On the right pane, double-click on Enable news and interests on the taskbar entry to edit its properties.
• In the properties window, set the radio button to Not Configured, Enabled or Disabled per requirement.

Note: If you leave the setting as Not Configured, the experience will be enabled by default.

• Click Apply > OK to save the changes.
• Exit Group Policy Editor.

For Windows 10 Home users, you can add Local Group Policy Editor feature and then carry out the instructions as provided above or you can do the registry method below.

2] Registry Editor




To enable or disable News and Interests on Taskbar in Windows 10 using Registry Editor, do the following:

Since this is a registry operation, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures. Once done, you can proceed as follows:

• Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
• Navigate or jump to the registry key path below:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds

• At the location, right-click on the blank space on the right pane and then select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
• Rename the value name as ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode and hit Enter.
• Double-click on the new value to edit its properties.
• In the properties window, input 0 (Show icon and text) or 1 (Show only icon) or 2 (Hide everything) in the Value data box, per requirement.
• Click OK or hit Enter to save the change.
• Restart PC.

That’s it!

In addition, PC users can customize the appearance of news and interests on the taskbar.

• Users can choose to right-click or long-press a blank space on the taskbar and select News and interests to customize.
• They can choose Show icon and text or, to save taskbar space, select Show icon only.
• Users can also select Turn off to unpin news and interests.

Read next: How to use Microsoft News app for Windows 10.


This article Enable or Disable News and Interests on Taskbar using Group Policy or Registry Editor first appeared on TheWindowsClub.com.

read more...

 

Windows Defender Group Policy Disabeled

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community.

As you have stated you want to disable the group policy so that you can run windows defender on the computer.

I would like to suggest few troubleshooting steps:

Method 1: Disable group policy from gpedit.msc

• 
  Press Windows key + R.
  
• 
  Type gpedit.msc and click Ok.(it will open Local Group policy editor)
  
• 
  Go to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Defender.
  
• 
  In the right pane of
  Windows Defender in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the
  Turn off Windows Defender policy to edit it.
  
• 
  Select (dot) Not Configured or
  Disabled, click/tap on OK,
  
• 
  When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
  

If the issue still persist you can follow method 2.

Method 2: Disable group policy from registry.

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow
these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

• 
  Press Window Key +R.
  
• 
  Type regedit and click. (it will open registry)
  
• 
  Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
  
• 
  Right Click on Window Defender to create a new Dword.
  
• 
  Click on New and Select Dword.
  
• 
  Type DisableAntiSpyware.
  
• 
  Right click on DisableAntiSpyware and click on modify.
  
• 
  Set the value to 0 instead of 1.
  

Hope this information is helpful. If the issue still persists, you can write back to us and we will be glad to assist you further.

 

Windows Defender is disabled by Group Policy, but the Group Policy Editor is nowhere to be found.

(I'm asking this on a different computer as other is having serious problems.)

I found out that Windows Defender is disabled by Group Policy, and from research I found that it can be re-enabled by using the Group Policy Editor. The bad part is that when I try to find the Group Policy editor it is nowhere to be found. I have tried every
known method to locate this editor but to no avail. The computer was Windows 8 but recently was upgraded to Windows 10.

 

Group policy editor

Just to note, while you can technically enable the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) in a Windows 10 Home edition, it will not actually apply the policy settings.

They will only get applied in the supported Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. You can set group policies manually in Registry Editor though.

*Arrow Group Policy Search