Soon, you will be able to customize MSN in the lock screen on Windows 11
MSN integration introduced as an optional update becomes mandatory with the April 9 Patch Tuesday update
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In March 2024, Microsoft introduced a lot of changes to the lock screen of Windows 10, including MSN, which added more visual clutter.
The Redmond tech giant also added MSN-powered widgets to the lock screen in Windows 11 last month. However, not all users appreciated this move as they were not able to change or modify them.
The good news is that Microsoft is working on offering full control over how the lock screen on our PC appears. As Microsoft mentioned to WindowsLatest, you will be able to customize Widget cards along with the content appearing on them.
However, the company has not yet shared the estimated time of arrival for the feature. As of now, the lock screen widgets powered by the MSN feature are included in an optional update. However, after installing the patch Tuesday update in April 2024, these will become the default for everyone.
The mandatory patch Tuesday update will be available on April 9, and this will turn on MSN integration. All the MSN widgets will show up by default on the lock screen if you have the Weather option enabled in Settings>Personalization>Lock screen.
In the future update, as Microsoft mentioned, we can expect to choose which widget to keep or remove on the Lock screen.
However, people like me don’t like clutter on their lock screen and, therefore, would want to remove the MSN content completely. Fortunately, you can do that.
For that, open Settings (Windows + I), then go to Personalization>Lock screen> Lock screen status> choose an appropriate option.
As of now, I have KB5035942 installed and am running Windows 11 Home Single Language. When I navigate to the Lock screen status, I can see None, Weather, Mail, Calendar, and Dev Home options. If these don’t change in the future update, you can select any of them to get rid of MSN integration.
In other news, we know Microsoft has been experimenting with the Widgets panel for some time in Windows 11 24H2 and has added a navigation panel to the left-hand side, letting you switch between feed and widgets.
You can quickly access the Settings app from the Widgets app, as the icon is placed at the bottom left corner, but you won’t get the extended view option, meaning you won’t be able to go full screen in the Widgets app.
Would you like to turn off the MSN integration on your lock screen? If so, share the reasons with our readers in the comments section below.
