Miss the weather widget in Windows 11? Well, Microsoft is bringing it back

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The latest Insider build of Windows 11 brings the weather widget back to the taskbar. Yes, just like the weather widget in Windows 10, it lets you easily access live weather conditions from your taskbar.

Microsoft is also making multiple quality of life improvements. Those include making it possible to display the time and date on multiple monitors.

Microsoft first introduced the taskbar weather widget in Windows 10. The widget shows the temperature and weather conditions, and one-click access to more widgets and a news feed. On left-aligned taskbars, it shows as an icon only.

When Microsoft released Windows 11, access to the widgets was moved away from the live taskbar icon. Now it’s going back to the Windows 10 way, with the change coming to the public build of Windows 11 at some point in 2022.

Windows 11 is also getting a new voice control system, called Voice Access. This provides a natural conversational way to navigate around your PC and handle common tasks like word processing.

“Voice access is a new experience that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using their voice,” says Amanda Langowski, Microsoft’s Windows Insider chief.

Voice Access only works in English-U.S. in its current state. Microsoft has a list of all the available commands, or you can say “What can I say?” while Voice Access is active.

Other improvements in this Insider build include new desktop backgrounds with a variety of images from around the world. Those also come with interesting facts about the place pictured, accessed by hovering over the Spotlight icon.

The Windows Subsystem from Linux can also now be installed from the Microsoft Store, making updates easier on the user.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.